Team NOBL - New year, old threat
by Nico and Lucien
Summary: After 'The Breach', a secret force managed to thwart the sabotage of Vytal and Beacon's still standing! But evil never sleeps and continues plotting against the kingdoms... Our story starts with the new school year and follows four peculiar young men on their way to become real huntsmen, trying to prevent a course of actions that may change the world forever... AUish. Crit welcome!
1. Chapter 1: Welcome to Beacon

Prelude:

"Come in.", an old lady sitting behind her desk answered the door before someone had even knocked. She took off her reading glasses and looked her secretary in the face, putting away the file she had just read.  
"Ma'am, this might interest you.", the secretary laid down a file on the existing pile. The old lady sighed and rested her arms, "I have to read so much today, couldn't you read it out for me?"  
The secretary nodded. "It's about the incident at the Vale docks. One of the teams may have promising recruits. Or even more... Team NOBL that is." The elderly woman suggested her secretary to continue.

"Necros Charon. A human male, 17. There is no official data concerning him available, might be a made up name. The boy lost his parents in a Grimm assault when he was just 5, also no data about the who, where and when. Later he was accepted into Signal's orphan training program and is now a student at Beacon. However he claims that he was held captive and abused by someone he calls 'Crimson Lady', except it seems he only remembers her appearance. His tutor told us everything we know about him now. He's an excellent sniper and quite good in close combat. He got a reputation at Signal for the disregard concerning his own safety as well as for his offensive capabilities. He's calm and calculating. I would call him quite dangerous...

The next is Onyx, his last name is unknown?... We don't know much about him, it seems he is from outside the kingdoms. Apparently he hides his face and doesn't talk his past, although he was a patient of Signal's psychiatrist. He was an orphan lucky enough to get a spot in the program, too. According to the data the therapist was willing to give us he suffered some kind of traumatising personal loss or strong violence in his early development. Tends to aggressive behaviour but only for short periods of time. Excellent swordsman, though reckless, unpredictable and, of course, dangerous."

The old lady smiled shaking her head. "Sounds like a faunus to me. It's not uncommon that nomad clans get wiped out by Grimm. What surprises me is the fact he survived."  
The secretary noticed her boss's interest and continued hurrying. "Only two more madam. Bastian Stirling. Also a human, male, 17. Not much is known about him as well: He lost his family when his home, a village outside the kingdoms, burned down during a Grimm attack, he doesn't really talk about that. Psychologically stable with a quite well developed sense of social interaction. He may be the most balanced and taking the least risks of the four. Fairly good marksmen though he mainly uses blades. We don't know enough about him to categorise him any further, he got into Beacon through the independent tests, not via a combat school.

And alas Lucidus Albus." The lady's facial expression changed instantly. "I know that one", she interrupted her secretary, "human, male, 17. Lost his sister in a bombing attack on his home and later some vital organs in an assault. Atlesian military combat education since age 7, sometimes reckless and hot headed personality -at least concerning some topics- though cold and calculating on the outside. Stable mind and body. Excellent swords- and marksman in terms of military conditions. Potentially dangerous but surely predictable."

The old lady sighed again. "Well, let's have a closer look. Maybe we have found whom we are looking fore..."

Several months earlyer:

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Chapter 1: Welcome to Beacon

Necros Charon watched out of the aircraft and looked upon the city. The sky was blue, a few clouds, a beautiful day. A peaceful day. And somewhere near the horizon was Signal Academy, his old combat school. The next day, he would attend Beacon, the Huntsman-academy of Vale. Absent-minded he gazed out of the window. "Huh Reaper, already missing the old crammers? Or will you faint from vertigo?", a voice from the shadows asked. "Ha ha Rogue,", Necros replied, "first, you know my semblance, I _make_ others faint. And second, I liked old Qrow... I have to keep in mind to deliver that letter to his niece..." From the shadows, a person became visible. A young man wearing mostly black. Black jeans, a black hoodie and even his belt with pouches for dust and daggers as well as the sheaths for his swords. "Well", the boy, who's name was Onyx, sighed, "whatever. I just hope we make it. Man, we'll attend _Beacon_! Is that sweet or what? Fighting against real Grimm. You can't stay in the past, even if you want to. By the way, I won't stay here. See ya'." Just as Onyx wandered off, the arrival at Beacon was announced.

While walking out, Necros checked his outfit. He simply checked his outfit because he didn't want anyone to see his eyes if it wasn't necessary. Or his eye, because his right one was covered with a black eyepatch that had an aperture over the position of the eye. Only one person back at Signal had ever seen his right eye, his "dust-engineer" for whom he had tested new dust-projectiles. And this wasn't even voluntary. A ricochet that had hit the aperture had opened it far enough for others to see through. He wanted to keep it at that if possible.  
His outfit was one of the reasons he was given the surname "Reaper" back at Signal: It was a wide, black coat endued with straps, its hood covering his eyes, the right shoulder was provided with four armor plates. And of course his weapon, Mávros Acheron: a repeater AMR (Anti Material Rifle) which could be transformed into a six foot scythe with a chain at the end of the shaft. The chain also was connectable to the blade's joint at the bead, to carry Acheron in rifle-mode and, if necessary, to disconnect the blade from the barrel to swing it like a deadly, three foot scythe-bladed chain-whip.

Still bemused, Necros headed for the main building. He thought it would be the best chance for him to find Ruby, the niece and other personal student of Qrow, though she had been one grade below Necros, she already was a student here. She was personally invited to Beacon and moved two years ahead by Headmaster Ozpin himself. Suddenly, Necros found himself half afloat in the air, as if he was frozen while tumbling. "It seems like you just tumbled over my suitcase. Be careful it's quite heavy.", a boy all in white said. "Er, yes, well, sorry, I was a little too deep in thought as it seems", Necros stuttered, obviously confused, "I guess it's because of you I'm floating here?" "Precisely", the boy answered, sounding strangely stiff, "my semblance is Accumulation, the ability to absorb and re-use kinetic energy striking me. I'll release you now, if you don't mind. Besides, my name is Lucidus Albus, pleased to meet you." Necros looked at Lucidus, once again relieved that people can't notice him observing them. "Wow, what a posh talker. A child of good family, I guess. Atlesian?... Whatever, I'm Necros Charon, nice to meet you Lucidus. Tell me... why does it look like you just put some dust enhanced armour over an Atlesian combat-school uniform?", Necros questioned. "Well, because that's exactly the case.", Lucidus answered proud, "I'm from Atlas, Titan Academy, to be accurate. That's my uniform. I used to be a cadett commander as you can see, thats equivalent to an ensign in the real military." "Ah, OK." Necros said shaking his head. That guy was weird. Polite, but very weird. "Sorry, but I... well, I have to find someone." Lucidus seemed confused: "You know, I could help you searching, if you want." Necros considered accepting the offer and he did. Together, they approached the main building, Necros baring the kitbag with his whereabouts on the shoulder and Acheron in his right hand and Lucidus with his silver suitcase for weapon and equipment in his left hand.

"...y exactly are you wearing an eyepatch?", Lucidus asked eventually. "It's because... wait, how do you know...", Necros sighed, "I guess you saw it as I tumbled, eh?",Lucidus nodded and Necros casted back his hood, causing his short, tousled light brown hair and his eyepatch, which covered one of his ice-blue eyes, to appear. "My right eye is... let's say shattered. I... don't want to talk about it... You know... Bad memories", Necros replied, dropping the subject. Luckily Lucidus seemed to understand and nodded. Necros didn't want to tell anyone about his past and his right eye, which he calls "Splinter Eye" and which was pretty useful to him, as he was a sniper...

The two stood in the entrance hall, keeping their eyes open for a red hood. Most of the other new students were there, too, checking the luggage or talking to friends.  
Something which, in fact, was virtually impossible for Lucidus and Necros. Lucidus didn't had any acquaintances among the students, as he came from a totally different school and Necros had only two persons he could fairly call friends: Onyx, who certainly hid somewhere in the shadows to avoid any social activity, as he always did, and Mag, his engineer, who dyed her hair from time to time, so it was almost impossible for Necros to see her in this enormous group of students.

Eventually, Lucidus jogged Necros' elbow. "May she be the person you are looking for? That young ladyl with the red hood over there?" And indeed, to the right side of the hall, Necros recognised the hood and the folded weapon of his former co-student. Calmly but hurried Necros crossed the hall and approached Ruby. He wondered if she would still know who he was.  
"Hey, Ruby!", he addressed her, the envelope at hand. "I have something for you from good old Qrow!" "Huh? From Uncle Qrow?", she responded wondering, "Wait... do I know you? You surely have something familiar on you, but I can't quite remember, sorry." "No offence taken.", Necros returned, "I would have been surprised if you did, I mean, you have never seen my face before. But I was your Uncle's other private student, Necros Charon." "Aaaahm... Reaper! Right?", Ruby exclaimed staggered. "Yep, that's me. Old Qrow gave me this letter for you. He just wanted to make sure you get it", he said passing the envelope. "Oh, thank you Reaper. I can't wait to tell Yang. Bye! Oh... and, welcome to Beacon!", Ruby ran out, leaving the hall in the direction of her dorm.

"I guess that's it. Welcome to Beacon, Charon", Necros said sighing to himself, wondering what the evening would bring.

Shortly after, he "enjoyed" a speech from professor Ozpin welcoming the students. He didn't exactly listen to it, he just noticed some parts in it, that made him wonder. He said, no peace could last forever, and that it would be their duty to fight the wars that may be at hand. He remembered similar from a conversation Qrow has had with a strange old woman visiting Signal once.

At dinner Necros was hooded again after he noticed several students whispering and pointing at him. It was none of their business, plus Necros tried to be the observer, not the observed, as it was the best for a sniper to do. He also spotted some people from Signal and they surely recognised him but the Reaper had seldom been the centre of interest. He'd been more the kind of guy the others didn't want to mess with especially after rumours regarding his combat skills had spread. The people avoided him, he had no problem with that. The less they cared the better he could observe, this evening was no exception. Shy, braggy, aggressive, protective, almost every kind of person was among this group of freshmen and according to what Qrow had told him, some of them will be his team-mates. He just hoped not to be stuck with some strutter and silently he finished his meal.

Later that night he sat before his chessboard as the boy from earlier, Lucidus, sat down looking at the positioning of the game. "Who're you playing against?", he wanted to know since there was nobody near them. "The strongest opponent around", Necros sighed after a moment of hush, "the one I've never won against. Myself." Lucidus positioned himself cross-legged on one side of the board. "Mind if I try?" As an answer, Necros swept aside the chess pieces, began to assemble the black and gave Lucidus the white ones. "Why do the kings look so much... different from normal?", he asked. "My tutor made them from scrap metal. I had this board with me as I arrived at Signal and the kings were missing. I don't remember where I picked it up.", he looked at the king in his hand, "you know, I kind of identify with the Black King. If I were ruler, I'd reign with an iron fist to cleanse the world of those who've gone beyond the path of darkness." Now Lucidus' interest was awakened. He had his idea of justice, too. "You mean murderer?" Necros sighed again, what made him tell this guy? "No", he continued since he'd already started talking, "murder always has a motive, so murderers would be punished normally. Torture is beyond that, killing for fun is unforgivable. Whenever the murderer has a goal that is not unforgivable, he just wanders the path of darkness." With that he placed down his king, the assembly was complete. "Your turn, white Atlesian" was the last thing that was spoken this night as they thoughtfully made move after move.

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 **A/N:** This was the foreword, so to speak, the real story starts with the next chapter, the initiation! We hope you enjoyed the prologue and will enjoy the rest of the tale. Have fun!


	2. Chapter 2: Off the Cliff

**A/N:** You still there? Good. I know, Chapter 0/1 was not all that exciting, but the later chapters will, don't worry. We hope you enjoy this chapter as well and stay tuned in. But you want to get to the story, right? Ok, go on, have fun!

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Chapter 2: Off the cliff

"bzz..bzz", Lucidus opened his eyes, "bzz..bzz" "who's scroll is that!", a deep voice jelled through the whole hall. Obviously somebody was annoyed very quickly, but indeed getting waked up by another's scroll buzzing was annoying. Especially if it was the third time that night. At least this time it wasn't totally unnecessary, it was already morning. Lucidus stood up, checked whether his pyjama was all straight and steady, took his suitcase with his extra clothes and headed for the showers. As he took on his uniform and equipment, a dust enhanced shoulder piece, his HUD glasses and his equipment belt, with his cover shield, personal radar and gun holster, a strange young man suddenly started to talk to him out of no reason: "so you are using dust shields, how do you compensate the problem with the large energy drain caused by the energy transfer coils in the shield emitters?", "er.. I", Lucidus tried to reply but..., "well I would try it by replacing the iron core with an purified aero dust crystal, they usually have the largest energy delivery through air and gases, but still a lot of energy is lost during the shield construction. Well that could be reduced by using Terra dust particles, for they are very likely to reform in crystal shape after being milled to dust. Dust dust sounds funny right? Anyway dust shields are pretty ineffective against small projectiles and are often only able to secure small parts, compared to the aura they are almost useless, but in combination with a traditional armour and aura they can be effective. I guess, what do you think?", during this hours long feeling monologue Lucidus had already finished his breakfast and was enjoying a cup of tea as an announcement finally disrupted it: "all first year students please report to Beacon Cliff." "Oh it seems like we have to go. My name is Doc by the way, Dean Octavian Oobleck. Yes I'm connected to the doctor teaching here. However it was nice to meet you..." "Lucidus Albus. The pleasure is mine." Lucidus sighed, being sarcastic as Doc walked away. "That was nothing compared to how he is after his 10th coffee", said a girl with pink dyed hair walking by. Lucidus stood up an followed the others, meeting his, until now, only friend here Necros who was walking next to Onyx.

"... we will guard that item as well as you're standing and grade you appropriately. Now are there any questions?", and as noboby answered Ozpin's question, "good. Now take your positions." And one by one the students were slung off the cliff into the Emerald Forest, marking the beginning of their initiation.

Onyx landed as easy as always. As soon as he was in the shadow off a tree, he warped down to the ground using his semblance. 'Shade Master IS an appropriate name for it', he thought chuckling. He immediately headed north for the temple. But he was soon interrupted by someone speaking to him from behind: "I wonder if that counts as eye contact?" Lucidus had appeared right behind him. A small crater nearby was the relic of his landing. "Not as long as I don't turn around", Onyx replied, "but it seems like we are partners", as he turned around. "How can you walk so silent though you seem to be raised in a wealthy neighbourhood of Atlas?" "What do you mean? I already stood here before you came." Onyx felt dumb."Anyway, I was raised outside the kingdoms. You have to be a good fighter there or a good sneaker. I decided to be the latter, but.. I guess you'd never have to run from Grimm, so where did your skills come from?" "Titan Academy. The best combat school of all of Atlas.", Lucidus was proud of his education but he knew that not everybody was taking that so well. Unfortunately this was the case with Onyx. "Ooh wow. Well 'Titan' I don't care where you have been told whatever you call fighting, I recommend to you not to mess with me, I could kill you within the blink of an eye." Onyx turned around and walked away. "That's the wrong way.", Lucidus said pointing on a little device he had in his hand, his radar, "The temple is right there."

Meanwhile Necros landed using his scythe as a chain-whip shooting the blade in a tree and swinging down on the chain. After checking his outfit again, he shouted, asking whether someone was nearby, but got no response at first. A bit later he heard a deep growl from a bush. "Sounds more like unpleasant guests than a partner.", he said as he readied his weapon. To his surprise a boy wearing a red sweater came out of the bushes mumbling and swearing on the brushwood with a deep voice. "Whoha I thought you were a Grimm. Why didn't you reply to me?" "Hm? Oh I just landed a few seconds ago. I didn't hear you." The boy's name was Bastian. Besides preferring silence over conversation, at least for now, he seemed to like music, as he always wore his headphones and often checked his scroll to change tunes apparently.

Lucidus and Onyx arrived at the temple first. "I don't like this place", Onyx said while he walked around, looking closely on the relics, "too little shadow, nothing to strike from behind." "Without darkness there is no light", Lucidus picked one, "and without light there is no darkness." "Hm?", Onyx hadn't listen. "Philosophy. It means that good and bad are always evened up, and that there is never one thing without the other." Onyx shook his head, "and a philosopher too. I regret already that I've turned around. At least you picked the right relic." Lucidus raised his eyebrow in scepticism, "Because its black?", he asked. "The black king is a symbol of revenge, ruthlessness and betrayal. And all of those things I love to do.", Onyx grinned, so Lucidus saw the white teeth blinking out of the darkness beyond the hood. "All I can remotely agree on is ruthlessness. Who ever threatens peace is a dead man to me. So I will assure, that he will be dead." Onyx didn't seemed to be impressed. Somehow he could see his expressions though Lucidus couldn't see his eyes. Suddenly, Onyx turned around like he had heard something from behind: "Grimm!". Lucidus immediately took out his radar, "two to be precisely, hunting two humans." Again Onyx shook his head, "no, this is a King Taijitu, mister! Ready your weapon." Lucidus wanted to ask how Onyx could know that but he decided to ready himself for battle, as the King Taijitu broke out of the brushwood, following Doc and a girl with pink hair, who ran for their lives. Onyx said: "snaky time", and disappeared in a shadow fluctuation reappearing beyond the black Taijitu head, jumping upon it and stabbing his swords into it. Lucidus in the meantime fired his gun onto the other head to distract it and prevent a counter attack. "Need some help, Doc?", he asked him. "Obviously" "Hey Doc don't talk, shoot!", the girl shouted, battling the Taijitu in melee. "Sorry Mag", Doc answered, taking out two pistol-crossbows loaded with dust-vials.

Suddenly the white Taijitu head dashed towards Doc and Lucidus, getting stopped by Lucidus using his semblance just three feet before hitting Doc. Lucidus absorbed and used the energy from this attack to overload his weapon and shot. The blast was strong enough to wipe off the Taijitu's head leaving only a dead stump. Injured badly the black head fell back just to get himself killed by a dust-projectile fired from Mag's gun-truncheon right into its mouth. "Nice shot 'Titan'", Onyx confessed. "Good fight everyone", Lucidus said, obviously exerted from using his semblance.

Mag went into the temple to choose a relic. "Chess pieces again?", Doc sounded surprised, "Ozpin used them last year already." "How do you know?", Mag wanted to know. "My last name is Oobleck, just like my uncle's, who is a teacher here at Beacon. He told me what Ozpin picked last year." "Mh. But which shall I pick? This one?", Mag picked the white bishop and held it towards Doc. "Why not? They have no meaning anyway."

"You don't talk much right?", Necros tried to start a conversation. "Why should I say something, when there is nothing to talk about?", but with Bastian it was hard to hold one for more than 10 seconds. "I don't know, maybe because silence is boring?" Bastian didn't reply. "Bastian? Are you all right?", and again: no answer. Until: "Its just the word silence. I remembered something... It bursts old wounds again." Necros understood, "just like when I see an Ursa. Bad memories." Bastian nodded, and again, the conversation was over.

Their silence was broken, as two other students stumbled upon their path, discussing loudly whether X-ray or Vav were the better hero. While one of them wore a shoulder piece on his left as the only armour added to his braces and used sword and shield, the taller one did prefer a composite cuirass and a two handed sword. Necros and Bastian face-palmed as they passed by without them noticing anything.

Without any more trouble, or conversation, they arrived at the temple. "Which shall we take", that was no real question for Necros. "The black king of course, for I wanted to become a huntsman to avenge those forgotten by history, to punish cruelty and send those to oblivion who have even left the path of darkness." Bastian shook his head, "you had planned to say that right?" "Actually, ... yes I did." A few face-palms followed, almost sounding like a small applause.

"I think we should go back to the cliff now", Mag called in. "Wait for us!" Two other students arrived at the temple, picked a relic and joined the group. "Noir! Finally you're here too.", Mag greeted her new friend. The two had just met the evening before, because Noir came from Mistral. "Hey Mag. Oh! This is Leto by the way, I picked him up fighting a bunch of Ursa." The two partners couldn't be further apart from each other. Noir wore a black trench-coat over a white blouse and blue hot-pants, while Leto's upper body was only covered by a slim-fit tank top and he wore wide trousers which were somewhat similar to sweatpants. He also didn't have any weapons, while Noir used a classic one-handed rifle -which bottom side doubled as a blade- and a grappling hook.  
"Fine fine now let's go, I think I heard a Nevermore back in the forest.", Mag interrupted the introductions. The group went off, heading back towards Beacon Cliff. "They're coming", Onyx almost sounded worried. For a reason, seemingly out of nowhere Beowolves appeared and ran towards the student's. "You go on, we'll try to buy you some time." Necros commanded. "Good luck Reaper" Onyx said while he and the others went on.

Necros drew his weapon and shot a Grimm behind Bastian, just before it could attack him. Bastian however used his twin gun-blades as a giant shuriken by connecting their handles, slicing rows of Grimm in two and warped himself after it to catch his weapon again before it struck into the ground. "Necros! Fall back!" Lucidus and Onyx had readied themselves for battle and waited for Necros to catch up with the group, but all out of sudden the Nevermore appeared and attacked the group. "I could bring him down here, but I can't jump that high" Lucidus had a plan. "You need a little boost?", he asked readying his shield and expanding it in his hand.

Onyx jumped upon Lucidus's shield, "you wont kill me with that, right?" Lucidus gave him a mean smile, "will I?", and released a wave of kinetic energy from his weapon, shooting Onyx like a bullet straight into the sky. He landed on the Nevermore stabbing it with his swords, freezing its wings forcing it to go down, crushing near the others. "Impressive", Leto confessed creating swords of fire from his bare hands, to then engage into the fight. Noir however saw that Lucidus was having trouble holding back the Beowolves all on his own. And decided to give him a hand.  
Lucidus then noticed, that many Grimm trembled as they got hit by Noir's blade and grappling-hook. "Wait... Are you electrocuting them?" He asked. "Yep! Sparkles!", she answered, and another Beowolf got burned by lightnings piercing his body so the rest of the Grimm slowly noticed that they wouldn't stand a chance in further attacks and fell back into the forest. In the meantime Mag, Doc, Leto and Onyx had defeated the Nevermore after Doc had shot some fire-dust vials into the Nevermore's mouth followed by Leto stabbing its throat with his swords. The following explosion ripped the Nevermore into tiny burning pieces, causing ash to rain from the sky.

The group was the first to come back to the top of the cliff, where they returned the relics and received their acknowledge to be accepted into beacon.

Later the initiation's end ceremony let them and the school know their team's names:

"...Mag Anthony, Dean Octavian Oobleck, Noir Blackmoore and Leto Midaron. The four of you retrieved the White Bishop pieces. From this day forward you shall work together as Team Mendel (MNDL) lead by: Mag Anthony.

And finally: Necros Charon, Onyx, Bastian Stirling and Lucidus Albus. The four of you retrieved the Black King pieces. From now on you shall work together as team Noble (NOBL) lead by: Necros Charon."  
Under great applause the four left the tribune, not yet knowing what would be awaiting them.

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 **A/N:** The Black King, huh? Interesting choice Nec. Team MNDL was mainly Nico's idea, he wanted someone with dust inside the body as a main character, so we came up with him and the rest of MNDL and magenta, black, green and gold may not be the most aesthetic combination of colours but that's not our problem. By the way, feel free to comment, we'd be happy to improve ourselves and as always: if you enjoyed this chapter, stay tuned!


	3. Chapter 3: Quoth the brother: Nevermore

**A/N:** Wow, that was something last chapter. Have you noticed Leto's fighting style? Well, today a "special guest" appears... his brother! And a special one he is indeed... Enjoy!

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Chapter 3: Quoth the brother: Nevermore

The next two months proceeded without special events. Team NOBL and Team MNDL became somewhat friends and even that was surprising with one of them constantly hiding his face and another one being withdrawn to almost everyone. But Lucidus spent time in Mag's and Doc's workshop now and then and the two teams ate and sparred together.

One morning, a shout went through the dining hall. "NEVERMORE! A Nevermore is wheeling above the school!" "A Nevermore?", Doc wondered, "it should be no problem to get rid of one single Nevermore with all the Huntsmen and students here at school. But it is of course odd that a Grimm is able to be on -or above- school ground." "Well, it would be a good training. I want to check out some new Tempest-Compositions I figured out." "You and your dust, Leto. I for one would like to give it a shot. Literally.", Necros grinned. "You and your sniper rifle, Eyepatch", Mag quipped, "but don't you two want to prove your words?"

Outside, some students already tried to shoot the Grimm but it dodged every shot. Then, a high-pitched whistling was heard and the Nevermore landed on the shoulder of a young man with short pitch-black hair with one white streak and fiery red eyes. "My, my, Poe, are you teasing Huntsmen-to-be again? I told you it's dangerous", the man scolded the bird. "This Nevermore... is _tame?!"_ "A tame Grimm... impossible." "Whaaat?!" Almost everyone was confused. Except Onyx; he was just grinning.

"Waitwaitwait... Helm?!", Leto stuttered. "Oh, hi lil' bro", the man said, "nice to see you. Can I come in?"

"...ound him as an egg six years ago", Helm explained, Poe sitting on his shoulder. He sat by the two Teams and ate breakfast, feeding the Nevermore bread by the way. "Ok, well, but what happened to your eyes and hair? Why have they changed colour?", Leto asked. "The same reason why it's hard for me to create an aura and impossible to create a semblance: I enhanced myself with Grimm-genes", Helm answered shrugging. "Ah, oka... wait you did _what?!_ ", Leto screamed. "Huh? I enhanced myself with Grimm-genes. Beowolf, to de accurate. Gives me a nice little set of powers. Some you might see in class. Before you ask, no, I'm not a new teacher, the Headmaster has granted me board and lodge if I work here as an advisor. I help out with my knowledge, teach you novices some combat relevant stuff and so on. Hm, feels like someone who's very, very angry is approaching." Having said this, the door flew open and a very, very angry Glynda Goodwitch came in. "What is this... thing doing in here? And how did it even came in? And why isn't anyone doing anything against it?!" Helm sighed. "Well, I guess you're this castle's dragon then, eh? You didn't asked for it or anything but let me introduce myself anyway: the name's Wilhelm Jakob Midaron, or Helm for short, kind-of expert on Grimm-research. And that _thing_ is my friend Poe." "The fact that you managed to not only hold a Grimm captive but also to tame it doesn't change the fact that this is a Grimm on school ground!" "Nah, you're not correct", Helm said. "But..." "Bababa, you said I tamed him. You're not correct. I _raised_ him. Big difference. And especially you as Huntress should know, that Grimm die when held captive. If you excuse me, I for one would like to finish breakfast." As cool as a cucumber Helm sat down again and continued to eat and to feed Poe. Glynda, almost inarticulate with rage, finally lost her rag. "I never heard such a discourtesy in all the years I am teacher! And who are you anyway? Absolutely not a student cause they know how to be polite! At least most of them! So who are you and what are you doing here?!" It seemed as bugging Glynda was fun to Helm and even some students, Onyx, Ruby and a pink haired girl near her for example, struggled not to laugh loudly. "I'm eating breakfast, as you can see. And you are not a very good listener, are you? I introduced myself already" "Such a..." "I invited him to Beacon." All at once, the dining hall fell silent as Headmaster Ozpin entered. "After the Grimm attack last semester I thought it would be of some advantage for the students if someone could teach them knowledge about Grimm that is not gained solely in combat, so I invited the person who is most likely the first in the field." Helm stood up to greet the headmaster and Onyx began to chuckle as it became clear that Helm was disrespectful towards Glynda because he just didn't agreed in being required to show her respect. "Ah, Headmaster Ozpin. My name's Wilhelm Midaron, pleased to meet you. And thank you for the invitation. I feel a little bit flattered that Beacon wants me." "But you can't be a new teacher and you are way to old to be a new student, too!", Glynda stuttered. "Yep, you're right. _Advisor_ may be the correct term. And I know that this pack has a hierarchy but as you said, I'm neither a student nor a teacher, so I'm outside of this hierarchy. Thus, I only listen to the alpha wolf." Ozpin was as calm as always, if not a little bit amused and he didn't regret at all that he invited Helm to Beacon. "I have to admit that I've never seen someone who has the guts to speak to Ms. Goodwitch that way but sadly for you, Glynda, he's technically right. I only _invited_ him here, so it was his choice to come. He's in nobody's debt but his own. But how about you acquaint yourself with the school? I'll show you around." Thanking, Helm followed the headmaster out of the hall, Glynda walking with them. As they were out, a bunch of students began to laugh aloud.

"It seems like they like your brother", Noir mentioned. "He is as wayward as always. But now, he's more... intimidating." "Eh fing hef funye" "Onyx, first swallow, then talk" "Sorry Mag", Onyx said, definitely rolling his eyes beneath the hood. " I said: I think he's funny."

Later that day they entered the classroom to attend... whatever it was Prof. Port was teaching. But instead of the bearded bromide, Helm was in there. "G'morning class, please place your rear ends onto your seats so I can begin. And before you ask: Yes, Port would be supposed to teach you about Grimm but for the moment this task was given to me." "Oh _THAT'S_ what he was teaching!", someone said. "Er, yes, to continue: I'm neither a Huntsmen nor a teacher. I'm just an ordinary researcher and the correct term for my position here would be _advisor,_ so I ask you to call me Wilhelm instead of Mr. Midaron. Mr. Midaron is my father.

The introduction done, do you know anything about the bonelike structures Grimm are attacking and defending with?" In unison, the class kept quiet. "Oh, Port was that good... well, then I'll give you an example." Helm stretched his arm and from his fingertips a white, viscous looking material spread over his arm and formed something like a spiky gauntlet. Some students gasped. "Ok, I should have mentioned, that I'm not _completely_ ordinary. But however, this stuff is very similar to the structures of Grimm. I call it 'Darwin-Shell', named after my late friend Darwin. He never changed his way of fighting, always the same patterns, so the Grimm learned and finally killed him, that stupid bastard. So yes, this name has irony, because I can change the shell at will. I don't even know how it looks under my shell, I mean, I could make my hand bigger with it and it would work perfectly fine. Oh, and whatever you do, do not agitate Poe. He is tame, but he will defend himself. But let's get back to topic..."

For the first time, class felt like class. As distinguished from Port, Helm didn't speak about so called adventures, but in fact spoke about Grimm, their habits, their bodies. "Leto, your brother is quite erudite, despite him being a bit... peculiar.", Doc said as they left the classroom. "I think he's a bit disorderly", Lucidus objected with some concern. "I don't know if he is that fitted for team fights." "I just like his style", Onyx laughed. "Wow, today you laugh more than normally. Most of the time, you're just malicious but today you're actually happy, Onyx.", Noir mentioned, "but what about you? Mag, Necros, Bastian?" Bastian shrugged. "As long as he tells me how I can kill those beasts more efficiently it's fine." "And I want to learn as much as possible about Grimm and if he can teach me that, I'm willing to listen. And I want to learn about his Darwin-Shell.", Necros answered tapping his face. His team knew he was wearing an eyepatch, though they just saw his normal one without aperture nor they saw his right eye. _Mendel_ , however, did not except Mag, thanks to a ricochet. In class he preferred his shaggy hair and his eyepatch hooded.

"I haven't made up my mind. I'll judge depending on how he is teaching us.", Mag finally said. The conversion went on until they reached their dorm rooms.

"So, what are you doing the rest of the day?", Necros asked. "Isn't that obvious?", Bastian replied putting on his headphones and picking his favourite book from the shelf. "Could be a good idea", Onyx said, "but I think I will try to reach the roof. So many spots to test my skills." "And I'm going to meet Doc and Leto. Little bit Dust composing.", Lucidus explained. "Well, ok. Then, if you are searching for me and/or I don't appear to dinner, I'm down at the firing range. I want to try new projectiles." "I already marveled", Onyx joked, "you already have pinpoint accuracy, so why would you practise aiming?" "To not rust. So, see ya."

Necros went down to the firing range. "Watcha' doin'?", Noir came in asking. "I'm testing some new special projectiles I made over the past weeks. For example this one." He held up a clip with a Φ on it. "I call them Phlegethon. Wherever they hit...", he shot, "...they create a nice little purgatory." "Did Mag help you? And more important, why are you holding the gun at your left shoulder and pull the trigger with your right hand? That seems a bit awkward." "I pull the trigger with my right hand because I'm right handed. And..." he took off his hood, thereby his eye became visible. "...did you ever try to aim with this?" "Oh, I never knew... so that's the reason you always wear your hood... how did this happen? Are you really blind on your right eye?" "Well, yes, bad memories and no. I'm not blind, let's say my right eye is... broken. And no, Mag didn't help me. But I can understand why you assumed this. I mean, I am her guinea pig when it comes to testing new bullets." "Speaking of Mag, she told me I would have good chances to find you down here. She said you would be the best person to help me with my... concern.", Noir hemmed and hawed. "And that is...?", Necros nodded. "Long range pinpoint accuracy. I'm more midrange and could need your help on aiming far." "Well, ok Noir, welcome to my realm called firing range."

A few hours of practise later, Necros looked at his Scroll. "Oh sh... it's already dinner time! I should arrange an alarm for this." Noir's stomach growled. "I have one inherent... It's called hunger." "Well, then let's call it a day", Necros sighed and swayed Acheron over his shoulder, using the chain as shoulder strap, "and I hope Onyx saved me some starters."

They walked to the diner hall chatting, Necros again hooded because he changed his eyepatch in case he has to make use of the enhanced vision of his Splinter Eye. The reason he did this? There was no reason, he just had the feeling that zoom and enhanced perception could be useful. And the moment the two of them stepped next to the hall, a boy with burnt-orange hair flew crashing through a window.


	4. Chapter 4: Bullying the bullies

Chapter 4: Bullying the Bullies

While Necros went to the shooting range, the others got the hall, grabbing a bite to eat. Unfortunately Cardin Winchester, the more or less school bully, was there as well, picking on Fauni like always.

Unfortunately for him. Mag already had her troubles holding Leto back, but as Lucidus entered, none would have been fast enough to hold him back. "Don't you have anything better to do?", he asked Cardin, with a clear sound of disappointment his voice. Cardin turned around, obviously expecting someone taller than Lucidus, "pha! What are you going to do little freshmen, or should I say little baby?" "Watch your tongue!",Lucidus responded cold, but with tension, "I don't want any trouble, just stop bullying everyone for no reason." Cardin rolled his eyes, "you call this animal a person?" and pointed at a faunus. Lucidus got angry, what surprised many. "stop it!" Cardin laughed, Lucidus was more than one head smaller than him and looked a bit funny while angry. his rather high voice didn't help either. "Wait. I think I know your face...", Cardin said holding in his laughter, "Right you are one of these zoophile bastards right? Who adopted one of these damned animals." That was too much. Lucidus raised his hand, "stop. I don't want to hurt you." he tried to interrupt Cardin, who just took the hand and bent it to the side. Making Lucidus follow that movement. "And you idiot don't even know how lucky you are that you're freed of it. No, you little weakling have even tried to threaten me." That burned Lucidus' short fuse down entirely. Not only Lucidus hated how Cardin referred to faunus, the memories just let him explode like the dreadful bomb. With his free hand, he punched Cardin in the face creating an energy-blast casting Cardin out of the window on the other side of the hall.

As Lucidus turned around again the whole hall was silenced. Onyx counted the seconds with his fingers, he came to five, until the rest of team CRDL attacked Lucidus. Of course he wouldn't leave it, took his tablet and knocked out Dove, joining Lucidus in the fight laughing.

Necros came in, obviously baffled why someone flew out of the window, saw the ongoing brawl and tried to intervene, but it was too late. Cardin, who got back to sanity, climbed back inside through the window taking someone's plate and threw it after Lucidus. Lucidus could stop the plate but not prevent its topping from falling, or he didn't want to because it directly landed in Sky's neck. In the meantime Onyx evaded several punches from Russell before landing a perfect kick in his crutch. Russel sounded like a soprano for a while afterwards. After that Cardin had enough, took out his weapon and leaped for Lucidus. Luckily Necros stopped Cardin, pulling him down with his scythe. Holding the blade to his throat, he kept Cardin from getting up again. "That's enough! Lucidus! Onyx!" The two knocked out their enemies with a final punch, "I'm sorry captain. I lost my temper, seeing these guys bulling...", Lucidus tried to explain but, "I don't want to hear it". Just like demanded, Ms. Goodwitch showed up, asking for an explanation for the chaos. "But I do. Mr. Winchester, Mr. Albus, bothof you will follow me now." Proffessor Goodwich repaired the chaos with a single move of her hand and left the hall, followed by Cardin and Lucidus.

"I was counting days until someone would pick a fight on each other, but I didn't expect it so soon or by you." Professor Goodwich yelled at the two. "He started it." Cardin tried to blame it on Lucidus. "I don't care who did what!", prof. Goodwich responded, "you both are coming for detention today, and trust me, it's not going to be fun. And prof. Ozpin and your parents will have word of what happened here." angry Cardin obeyed, while Lucidus' face mainly showed... the same expression as always.

Lucidus sat quietly in the interview room. 'you're an Idiot.' he thought to himself, seeing himself as responsible for the event. His thoughts of regret were interrupted by Proffessor Ozpin entering. He sighed silently closed the door and put down his cup of coffee before taking his seat. After a small pause he said: "You know, I've asked you here because of what happened today. Don't worry I'm not going to kick you off beacon or give you extra detention. I want to talk to you. Thats all." Lucidus nodded silently. "Well,", Ozpin got up again, "considering your career to this point, I was somewhat surprised to see your name on prof. Goodwich's report on the incident. In 10 years military and combat school, you never were in detention, never got imposition and except for one... accident, you never had any trouble." prof. Ozpin leaned over the table, and looked deeply into Lucidus cold, ice blue, almost white, eyes. "So I wonder what is the matter now. Why do you spoil your spotless record for something like this?" Lucidus didn't react. His face remained all the same. Ozpin sat down and clasped his hands. Waiting. "I lost control." Lucidus said cold. "I tried to stop mr. Winchester from bullying my faunus co-students, the situation escalated and I lost control. Thats it." Ozpin didn't seem quite convinced by that explanation, but knew he couldn't get the real out of him. "If that's all mr Albus." he concluded and opened the door. He took a last glimpse at Lucidus and left the room shaking his head.

"So you got away?", Onyx had waited for him outside. "Not really. Additional readings with Professor Goodwitch." Onyx cringed "Ouch, it would have been nicer, if he'd discharged you", obviously Onyx didn't like Mrs. Goodwitch. "How did you do that", Onyx asked as they returned to the dormitory. "Pardon?" "How did you threw Cardin out of the window?" Lucidus didn't seem to be one of the strongest, "I don't know. That blast just created itself as I punched him." "Well, I think he'll never bully anyone again", you could almost see the satisfaction on Onyx' face, well not really as he still wore his hood. "But thank you for standing in for the faunus. There are only few who would have this courage." Lucidus was obviously confused, "why did this bother you so much?", Onyx sighed, looked down and... took down his hood. Beyond this mask, he hid wolf ears, his black hair and the fangs in his mouth, as well as dark shining black eyes almost like an onyx. "Oh! So that's how you got your name." Onyx was confused, "is this the only thing you recognize? The colour of my eyes?" Lucidus smiled, "it is the only thing worth mentioning.". Onyx took his hood back up as the two arrived at the dormitory and entered. "You won't tell anyone what I am right?", Lucidus nodded and they never mentioned it again.

Lucidus opened his eyes. It wasn't morning, and his alarm hadn't gone off... so why was he awake? He looked around in the room. Nothing. Just the dark silent room. What was keeping him awake? 'Maybe if I do something I'll get tired again.' he thought and got up. As silent as possible. Carefully picking up his dressing gown and slipping into his shoes he left the room for the terrace on the dormitory roof. It was already pretty chilly, although autumn had just begun, and a light breeze whirled over. "No matter how often you look into it, the night sky is always amazing." Lucidus looked around. It was nobody there, so who spoke to him. A raspy female voice chuckled. "Boo!" Noir said as she leaned back so her face became visible. She had been sitting on the terrace's edge all along, but her black clothing had rendered her completely invisible. "What are you doing out here?" she asked while patting on the ground next to her, "come here. Let's have a nice chat" Lucidus looked to the ground. "I have to. Don't I?" he asked with a slight tune of self irony in it. Noir just gave him that slightly bossy smile while looking over her shoulder. "Yes."

"For me, this is the best spot for thinking. Especially at night. Just the stars, the moon, which is beautiful tonight, and the wind..." she paused, leaned a bit forward and pushed Luce's elbow a bit. "Why are you here? I'm asking the second time so speak already!" Lucidus remained silent. "Well one thing is obvious you couldn't sleep, but I don't think thats because of what happened today is it?" He still didn't say anything, though he closed his eyes and his mouth started twitching. "Lucy?", Noir asked sorrowfully, "are you OK?" Lucidus opened his mouth shaking. "Don't call me Lucy." he said obviously holding back some heavy emotion. He got up again and wanted to leave the terrace. "Lucy!" Noir got up and grabbed Lucidus' hand. "Let go of me." he said with his voice failing and shaking. "You want to do it again.", Noir said calmly, but concerned, "you want to just swallow it. Hoping it will never get back up again." "let go!" Lucidus shouted and tried to free himself, but Noir had an iron grip on his hand. "It won't! You know that. This isn't the first time this happens and it won't be the last.", Noir shouted too, "Stop it. End it now. Act while you still can." her voice calmed down again she reached for Lucidus' face with her left hand. Lucidus stopped fighting and a small tear ran down his cheek, which Noire wiped away. "I miss her." Lucidus said calmly, but close to crying. Noir nodded. Somehow she knew what Lucidus had been fighting: "When I was just 7 years old, my sister was killed in a bombing attack on our home.", he explained, "we still don't know why they did it, but apparently she was the intended target. She was an orphan. A faunus child left behind from a grimm attack on a nearby village. My parents adopted her when we both were only two years old. We grew up together but she died alone in a fire even I barely escaped. My father and I went grocery shopping and my sister stayed home, because she was sick that day as we came home again, the whole mansion was burning. My father wanted to ran inside to get her, but the building collapsed in front of him..." Lucidus took a long pause and closed his eyes. These memories were painful. "The next thing I remember is how he carried the dead body of my sister out of the still burning debris. I can never forget the look on his face, the bleach skin of my sister or her haunting dead eyes." he felt Noir's warm hand on his cheek. Something he usually wouldn't like from anybody, but it somehow felt right. It felt good. He suddenly felt good. He smiled, his eyes still wet, and so did Noir.  
The two sat down again and looked at the stars. Noir's head on Lucidus' shoulder and his hand on her's. "Thank you." was the last thing he said to her that night to what she simply responded with a smile.

"How was your date?" Mag asked Noir as she entered her dorm. Noir sighed and rolled with her eyes. How could Mag be still awake and know where she had been. It wouldn't have surprised her if it was the case with Doc, considering the amount of coffee he drank, but Mag? "You know it wasn't a date." she simply responded cold. "Why are you still awake anyway?" Mag looked to the ground ashamed. Noir smiled and sat down next to her. "Do you want to talk about it?"...

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A/N: Wow, who would've expected that there's some kind of counterpart to the White Fang? And who would've expected Onyx to be a faunus? What did you say? The prelu... oooh, right, of course. But anyway, maybe we'll hear more about these terrorists later. Maybe there'll even be a story after the Beacon time... you will see and we hope you continue reading


	5. Chapter 5: Shards bring Luck

**A/N:** Have you ever wondered how Grimm biology works? We have, as already shown in Chapter 3 but Nico wondered if you could kill them by destoying their brain. You'll see the outcome. As always, we hope you have fun reading!

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Chapter 5: Shards bring luck

As Lucidus awoke, the events of the last day were still in his mind and he feared the readings. But today, the class would go on a field trip to Whitewood Valley with Helm and Dr. Oobleck, so at least this day he would be spared. The rest of the team were already up and prepared for 'class', but Lucidus just woke up. "Mornin' sleepyhead", Necros joked, "you missed breakfast." "I did WHAT?!" "Yeah, you did. Don't worry, I saved you some sandwiches." "Why didn't you wake me up?", Lucidus asked startled. Without breakfast he'd drop dead before lunch. "Onyx wanted to wake you up with some icy water but you even overheard your annoying scroll alarm, so we left you sleeping and as I said, I've saved you some sandwiches. So get up and get ready."

As they approached the aircraft, Helm and Dr. Oobleck were already waiting with most of the other teams. "Well, now that we are complete we can depart to Whitewood Valley. Please stick to each other and report if someone is missing", Oobleck shouted. "You heard the doc, no lingering. The day won't wait for us!"

Arriving in the valley, the doc drew Necros aside. "I want you to be a sentinel to guard us. You are the best sniper in this group. I request you to station on that hill where you can see the whole valley and if the are any complications I want you to regroup with your team. Do you have your Scroll with you to communicate with them?" "Yeah, I do. And what do you mean with complications?" "He talks about Grimm.", Helm answered, "the entire valley is full of them, but the reason we are here is important for your training and for the school's researches. So you are our backup. Godspeed!"

Helm and Dr. Oobleck led the group, except for Necros, who watched over the group with his scope, deeper in the valley. "The reason we are here is a rare herb called "Winter Leaf". It blooms shortly before winter -with other words now- and is extremely difficult to see in the white environment of the trees. Thus, we have to split our group.", Helm explained. "Every team will venture out and search for examples", Dr. Oobleck continued, "and we will meet again at nightfall at our point of arrival. But until we get there, let's talk a bit about Grimm..."

As Necros watched them, he saw a pack of Beowolves slowly following the group. He picked up his scroll to warn them... poor reception. He swore. This had to be the only part of the valley without reception. He couldn't warn them. As well he couldn't abandon his position and left them unguarded. And he couldn't kill the Grimm for they were to many to handle for him. He watched as the group reached the clearing in the centre of the valley, the Grimm encircling them. He swore again and put a Σ-α-Magazine into Acheron.

"...now we are in the centre of the valley and..." "What's this?", a student with a single sleeve and a glove on his right hand asked, as the Alpha-Grimm slowly approached the group. "This, my dear Perdix, is a Centenary Beowolf. Extremely old, extremely dangerous, I would recommend you to let me and Wilhelm handle this." The Grimm began to gain speed and to prepare for an offensive. But suddenly, the Beowolfs eye was hit by a bullet that pierced its head and came out the other side. Lucidus' Scroll buzzed. "Well, NOW I have perception!", Necros mumbled, "er, sorry, couldn't warn you earlier. But I think by shooting the alpha wolf I might have annoyed the pack. By the way, they encircled you. Don't panic, this will be your job routine later." "Well...", Helm scratched his head, "this might be a good time to part. Don't let them kill you. If you do, I'll kill you again."

The teams spread. NOBL wasn't complete, but that was not necessarily negative. With Necros as sniper, some Grimm fell before them, shot by him. "How do you do this?!", Lucidus asked. "Business secret", the Scroll answered, "but I'll abandon my position and meet with you." "Don't get yourself killed, captain." "Is Reaper my nickname or yours?", Necros quipped.

Necros changed Acheron to scythe mode and began to run using his Scroll as a GPS to track down his team. As he ran, his hood fell down. Along the way, he saw a girl with dark brown hair and a stylish, yet practical blue and grey combat outfit fighting some Ursai with a handgun-rifle-hybrid and a large blade. Necros vision tunneled. He shot his blade into the chest of one of the Ursai directly in front of the girl, swung Acheron like a whip, shortening and extending the chain from time to time to not let the blade touch the ground. Meanwhile, the girl attached the blade to the gun and used it as a claymore slashing through Grimm. As there where no Grimm left, Necros began to talk. "Why are you alone? Weren't you supposed to stick to your team? Oh, sorry, I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Necros Charon, pleased to meet you." "I'm Zhyrris Nikri and I could ask the same question. And I could also ask why you weren't with us as the Grimm got sh... it, that was you, right?" "Yeah, that was me. I'm specialized in long range pinpoint accuracy. Oh, and in scythe melee. But why don't you just use your Scroll to find your team?" "It got cracked when we were attacked by a Deathstalker. That's also the reason why I got seperated from my team. And why are you wearing an eyepatch? Are you blind on that eye?" "Why does literally _everybody_ ask this exact question when they see my eyepatch?", Necros wondered, "I guess because I'm the only student with an eyepatch, eh? Anyway, every time I'm asked this question my answer is the same: Not, my right eye is not blind, let's say it's broken." "And why is there an aperture?" "To open it if I have to use my broken eye", Necros answered. "Now I'm confused..."

"Ok, let's change topic. What _is_ this weapon?", Necros questioned. "Hm? You mean Tantalus and Ixion? Tantalus is a gun or the "spine" of my claymore and Ixion is a sword or the claymore's "blade". I use three fighting styles in total: ranged, one handed and two handed swords.", Zhyrris replied. "Tantalus and Ixion... I like the names. Reminds me of my scythe, Mávros Acheron. Don't know why. But, why don't you just come with me and meet with my team? Yours could be just fine, but you're not if you stay on your own. And you can't find them anyway.", Necros offered. "I would like to accept your off..." That's all Zhyrris could say because the sound of her voice was drowned by cracking trees and Team MNDL running in their direction, followed by a Deathstalker and some Beowolves. Necros shook is head. "Discreet as always. Save me some Grimm, Leto! Shall we, Zhyrris?" With this words he dashed forward to the Beowolves. One of them tried to land a jump attack but he dodged, touched the Grimm and sent him to oblivion with a point blanc headshot. "Necros!", Mag screamed, "why do you think we are running? There are to many! So stop screwin' around!" Too late, Necros was already encircled by them but he just grinned. He close his eye and concentrated. And began to run. The Grimm close to him just fell to the ground unconscious creating an opening for him. "What was _that?!_ ", Noir and Zhyrris asked in unison. "Never saw my semblance before, eh? I can make living beings faint. But to use it on that range and quantity was a bit tiring", Necros explained running. "Mag, I'll distract the Deathstalker and make it follow me. You take care of the Beowolves and collect this... samples or whatever it is we are here to collect." "But..." "Don't worry. Firstly, I have Zhyrris with me. Secondly, Onyx would kill me if I take away his chance to kill a Deathstalker." Necros turned, loaded a single Phlegethon-bullet and shot. The top of one of the Deathstalker's claws was burned away by the purgatory but soon extinguished, so the Grimm only got annoyed and followed Necros and Zhyrris as they parted from MNDL.

"We are close to my team", Necros shouted after a short time of being chased by a Deathstalker. As they crashed through some thicket Necros saw Onyx hood. "Hey Rogue, got a present for you!" "NICE!" He ran towards the Deathstalker. Luckily, they were in a forest, so Onyx had plenty of shadow to warp. "Captain! Girl! Cover!", Lucidus shouted placing a shield onto the ground. Necros and Zhyrris slid behind it not one second too late because as they looked up the Grimm's sting stuck in the shield. Carefully Necros touched the sting. "That should slow it down a little. Bastian, your turn!" "On it!" Bastian threw his gunblades as a shuriken. It hit the tail but unfortunately it didn't came off that easily. Necros loaded some Κ-bullets and aimed for the Deathstalker's legs. "Kokytos for you!" He shot one bullet at the right and one at the left legs. The bullets didn't invade the Grimm's body but induced a mist. Shortly after it froze slowing down the Deathstalker even more. Out of the shadows behind it Onyx leaped onto it and tried to pierce its shell with his swords. Meanwhile, Lucidus changed Silver Lining into sabre-mode and aimed for the Grimm's eyes and even ripped out two of them. "Do you have any ammo left for me?", Zhyrris asked Necros. "Sure. For what purpose? Do you have an idea?" "Yes I do..." "...hmm, Σ-β would fit, but I only have one of them left, so don't miss." "I won't, trust me." Onyx and Bastian still hit the Deathstalker from two sides to keep it distracted but their plan to bring it down was risky. "Lucidus, back me up, we have a plan, but I have to touch it again!" "Are you insane?!" "Maybe a little bit but you have to trust me." "Ok captain, I will." Necros ran towards the Grimm followed by Zhyrris, jumped, touched the head of the Grimm and shot his blade away to nail down the tail with the chain. This done, the Grimm tumbled around dazed but still tried to hit Zhyrris with his claws. She jumped evading the claws, turned midair and shot Necros' "Styx-beta"-bullet point blanc into the Deathstalkers head which was immediately torn apart by the heavy impact.

"Nice work, guys.", Zhyrris said to NOBL, "you are a bunch of lunatics. But nice lunatics." "Ms. 'I approach Deathstalkers head on' said _we_ are the lunatics... I like your acquaintance, Necros", Onyx grinned. "Er, yes, well, guys, this is Zhyrris. Zhyrris, this is my team. Onyx, Bastian and Lucidus." The one called Perdix and two girls came running through the thicket. "What a coincidence", Zhyrris said, "this is my team. Thalia, Perdix and Autumn." "And they are followed by a Centenary Ursa. This valley really is full of them. Reaper, what do you think we should..." Necros already ran towards them "... aaaand he snapped again. Why does everybody think _I am_ the crazy one?"

Necros loaded a Phlegethon-magazine and readied Acheron to shoot. "What are you doing?!", the boy called Perdix shouted, but Necros didn't hear him. All of his concentration went into the analysis of the Grimm's weak points. "Prepare to get burnt by the purgatory." He jumped. The Ursa lunged out. And an agonising pain went through Necros' right eye. Suddenly he was pulled aside but the Ursa's claw still hit. Necros clutched his hand over the eye. The eyepatch was gone and three short, slim, bloody streaks went over his skin. "This will leave a mark", Necros said clenching his teeth. The teams came running, the Ursa prepared to attack again. But before it reached the students, a big, white, grimmlike creature attacked it and chased it back into the forest. "Captain, everything ok?" "Hey, scytheman, let me see your eye.", the girl Zhyrris had called Thalia demanded. "I will not let _anyone_ see my eye!" "I know how to treat wounds, so let me see it." "I wont!", Necros replied. And then, he got slapped by Lucidus. "Sorry captain, but this is the only way you listen. Let her treat the wound, we don't know how dangerous it is to let it bleed on." Necros was shocked but a bit relieved. "Fine, I don't have a spare patch anyway." He lowered his hand and they saw his eye. "Like a shattered mirror", Bastian mumbled. "As I said, broken. And this scratches will leave a mark. So could you please hurry up and treat it. Your name's Thalia, right?" "Correct. And it will leave three marks, if that lightens you up."

As she treated his wound, he had time to look at her more closely. She had straight dark-blonde hair and wore long, white trousers and a green jacket. But more interesting was her glove, which had a slingshot-strap attached to it and her giant handbag. "What's in this thing?", Lucidus wanted to know. "All kind of things. Supplies, traps, grenades..." "Grenades?!" "Yeah, I fight mainly with traps and explosives. If that surprises you you should watch Perdix in action." "Thal, please." "Sorry Perdix. So, it should be treated but it will leave three little scars." "Doesn't matter", Necros sighed, "they will be covered by the eyepatch anyway. And at least I have a lot to tell if my children -in case I will have children- ask about my face." "He takes it lightly, as always.", Onyx said to Lucidus. "Yep, always sunshine and rainbows with our captain." "Wow, I didn't know you have a sense of humour.", Onyx grinned.

They went back to the venue. Helm waited there and greeted them. "Hey, bearkiller, if I hadn't saved you, you would be grimmfood by now. Be more careful next time." "Waitwaitwait...", Lucidus stuttered, "that white creature... was YOU?!" "'Course. Didn't I tell you I can transform completely using my Darwin-Shell? I admit, it was a bit bulky but my shell has to take all the damage. I don't have such a handy aura, don't forget this." "Thanks, Helm", Necros said. The next team that arrived was MNDL, Noir approached them smiling, but her smile faded as she saw the bandage around Necros' head. "What happened to your face?" "Ursa. But Thalia, I think you should change the bandage again. The compress feels a bit soaked." As she changed the compress, MNDL saw the eye. Doc was the first to ask. "What happened to your..." "Eye? Bad Memories, but as you all saw it, it doesn't matter anyway. But I won't speak here. I'll tell you at dinner time."

And he told them. "I don't have a lot memories of my past. The only thing I remember is the Ursa ravaging my home and killing my parents. Everything else is completely blank... until my memories start again, about six years ago. I was strapped to a chair and this woman in her red dress, the Crimson Lady, is holding some strange dust crystal, it seems to pulsate... and she smashes it into my right eye. I don't know how the procedure worked but it somehow went into my eye and... connected. It hurt like hell, still does from time to time, shattered my iris, created the 'Splinter Eye'. On the bright side it grants me some perks. I've far better perception with it and I'm even able to... zoom in, I'd say. Quite handy for my combat style. But I hunt her, she's my motivation to train. I want to find her, find my missing memories. And I want payback. Whatever she's done to me, I don't believe it was justified."  
At night, he went down to the firing range. He always did when he couldn't sleep. The wound already stopped bleeding, thanks to his aura but as Thalia said he gained three little scars over his eye. Luckily, his eye wasn't damaged.

"So you train to fight her?" Zhyrris came down the stairs. "To find her... and to send her to oblivion", Necros replied. "You couldn't sleep, like me?" "Yes and no", Zhyrris answered, "Mag told me I could find you here and she was right. Mainly I came down to cheer you up a little bit. And to thank you for helping me today." "I helped you as a matter of course. I would never allow anyone to die before my eyes who didn't deserve to. And to cheer me up? Good luck. Until now, nobody succeeded in pulling me out of this abyss. I have to reach this goal alone, even if it means to walk the path of darkness. As long as I don't commit to the path of cruelty, I'll be fine." "You are wrong." "Huh?" "You are wrong", Zhyrris repeated, "we may know each other only since today but I already consider you a friend. And the rest of my team surely also does. You don't have to be alone. You have eleven friends! They care for you, they count on you and they want you to count on them, too. So if you don't want any help with coming out of the abyss, have fun climbing. But at least try to climb. Do it for your friends, they need you." With this words she turned and went back to the dorms. Necros didn't sleep this night. He contemplated about Zhyrris' words and wondered whether he would accomplish the strength to ask for help or to reach the top by climbing.

* * *

 **A/N:** Whoo, third team! And with Thalia Gwyn, Perdix Aeneus, Autumn Alexander and Zhyrris Nikri all main characters are introduced. Do you know how hard it is to come up with colour-related names and new weapons? But the creation and development of characters is the fun part about writing an own story, ain't we right? And for all of you who didn't get the joke: Necros weapon and special projectiles bear the names of the five rivers from the ancient mythology of Greece, while Charon was the oarsman. But that's not the only hidden joke. Anyway, stay tuned, there'll be more soon.


	6. Chapter 6: Between the Years

Chapter 6: Between the Years/Night of Lights

As he awoke, he was alone in the room. The others were somewhere. Maybe they went to the city or the library or the workshops. Necros didn't care. Finally, the holidays had come and the last weeks had been tiring. Some students already went to their families for the duration of the holidays. So now, on the first free day, the school was emptier already.

The winter had come and the campus was white. As Necros looked out, fresh snow fell. He went to the bathroom, washed his face, saw in the mirror. His right eye was shattered as always but three fresh little scars went over it now. He remembered the pain of the Ursa's claws hitting him two months ago. Thalia had stitched him together pretty good but as she said, the three scars will stay. At least that injury has brought up a chance of new friendships. Necros shook his head. He tried to avoid the word "friends" as much as possible. Friends could die and he would never forgive himself if one of his friends would die. "Your thoughts are paradoxical, Reaper, have you noticed?", he said to his reflection, "what's going on with you?"

His thoughts were disrupted as someone knocked on the door. Without socks and open shirt he opened the door closing his right eye. "Sexey. Do you always open the door like that?", Zhyrris laughed. "Zhyrris, what are you doing here?", Necros asked staggered. "I'm here because you have to help me. I want to go to the city and buy presents for the others but I have no idea what to buy for your team. So you have to help me.", Zhyrris explained. "I don't have time", Necros lied. He didn't know why but as he said, his thoughts were paradoxical lately. "No excuse. We have holidays." "And I don't have a coat. You can't expect me to go shopping with you in combat outfit." He thought it was worth a try, plus it was true. "Already taken care of", Zhyrris said pulling out a hoodless jacket with two rows of buttons. "Trust me, it fits" "How do you know that...?" "Lucidus" "And how do you know my...?" "Mag" "And where did you get...?" "Secret" Necros understood that. "So it's a present from Noir's parents and Huntsmen's Taylor?" Zhyrris was confused. "How do you know about Noir being related to the company? She tries to hide it." Necros just showed her the sole of his combat boots where the Huntsmen's Taylor logo was engraved. "The name Blackmoore is not that common. Fine, fine I'll help you. But don't expect me to carry everything."

Right now Lucidus was already awake, taking breakfast in the schools hall. "you're not visiting your parents over holiday?", Noir seated herself right in front of him. "No. They aren't home either. My mom is on a mission and my father works in the laboratory all day. We'll celebrate as soon as she's be back next month." He took a bite, "but what about you?" Noir tried to look away, "I'm not going either. But it's more a personal thing." Lucidus asked why but she only replied: "I'll tell you later. Somewhere else.". And so after the breakfast, Lucidus asked her again. "Well", she replied, "you might have guessed it already, my mother owns Huntsmen's Taylor. So always being recognized as her daughter can be difficult. Also she wasn't fine with my decision to go on another kingdom's academy than Vacuo. So coming home to go on arguing would not make so much sense." Lucidus smiled, "to have awkward families.", Noir looked over to him like `you didn't say that´. "Bad joke?" She nodded. Shamefully Lucidus looked down to the ground, but soon she smiled again as usual.

"Sooo, do you have a plan for today?", Lucidus asked after a while "Actually I don't. Do you?" "Well I thought of going to the city, buying presents and maybe … drink some coffee with you?", he asked obviously a bit nervous. "Would be a pleasure", she answered smiling. "Finally!", Autumn grinned. "Oh, and Necros gave me this memo yesterday and said I should give it to you. Don't worry, didn't read it." As Lucidus unfolded the paper he read only seven words: Don't you dare to screw this up.

Zhyrris was right. The coat fitted perfect and even looked good. And it was made from Huntsmen's Taylor so it wasn't only top quality but probably even kind of bulletproof. Honestly, Necros didn't want to try. He felt a bit odd, on the one hand side because his thoughts were faster than he could grasp them and on the other hand side because he neither wore a long coat nor a hood. But even more odd was Leto. He was with them in the shuttle down to the city but the odd part was his outfit: He wore his usual skinny, sleeveless shirt and his wide trousers but he didn't seem to freeze at all. "How do you do that?", Zhyrris asked. "What?" "Your clothes. It's deepest winter. It's freezing cold. And you stand here looking like it would be spring tomorrow." "Oh, that", Leto replied, "that's easy. I warm myself from inside." "How?" "Er, with fire dust, duh. You seem to have forgotten that there is dust in my entire body. It's no problem for me to use it." "I always forget that you are a weapon, like Perdix. But you look so... ordinary. But anyway, do you know what I could buy for Mag?" "A notebook", Leto answered, "she'll definitely need one if she doesn't want to blow up the workshop again." "She did what?!", Necros shouted. "Yep, she blew up the workshop. Well, more a part of her workbench. Worked on a difficult composition for a special bullet, forgot the exact formula, triggered it wrong, dust went boom. You'll have fun testing it.", Leto explained. "As long as she doesn't blow up my eyepatch again..." Leto just laughed and blinked towards Zhyrris. She understood. He just gave her an update on her little... project. Her mood just kept on getting better this day.

As they arrived, Leto almost immediately said goodbye and Zhyrris and Necros set course on the shopping area.

"How about this?" Noir came out of the cabin, wearing a long black dress which had an open back and was slit from the ankle up to the thigh. "Hm... It's beautiful, fits perfectly, … can you dance in it?", even now Lucidus seemed to be analysing. "Do you want to try?", she thought his answer would be `I can't dance´, but instead he said: "Why not? Which dance milady?" Noir laughed, "you really want do dance here?" "You've asked for it" "It was a joke, actually" Lucidus smiled, "so … you'll take that one?" Noir agreed, they needed this dress for the prom planned on New Year's Eve. "So all what's left to do is find a suiting suit for you right?" "I still need a present for Autumn and Mag and don't forget the coffee we planned." She grinned, "you really care about that coffee." Lucidus nodded and Noir returned to the cabin, to return to her normal clothes. As she came out again, Lucidus took the dress. "What are you doing?", Noir asked confused. "I'll buy it for you, as a present", and he headed for the cashier.

As they came out of the store they met Necros and Zhyrris on the street.

Noir greeted them while Lucidus was obviously confused to see Necros wearing something without a hood. "Hey Zhyrris. Nice jacket, Necros." "Haha Noir. But you can say thanks to your parents. This thing fits perfectly and is comfy." "How do you know that my parents are..." "Wasn't that hard to figure out", Necros interrupted her, "knew it almost from the start. First, your last name Blackmoore. Not that common. Second, I bought my boots at Taylor, I know their style. So third, you solely wear clothes from Taylor. Even your combat gear is from Taylor which is not that cheap. So I can assume that either you are wealthy enough to afford it or, according to your last name, you are relatives. I may not look like it, but I'm pretty good in reading people." "Oh. That's interesting. Didn't know you are _that_ good captain. By the way, have I missed something or why are you shopping with Zhyrris without wearing a hood?" "Ha", Necros smirked, "you're the one who told her that I don't own a winter coat. Never mind, I'm here because I was forced to." "Of course you were", Noir smiled. "Hey, I was! And Zhyrris said she would need my help buying presents and that I would need a new suit, whyever." "So she did finally started to melt down your glacier", Noir grinned. "Er, that's not, well, ehm..." Obviously, Necros didn't know what to answer. Luckily, Lucidus helped him. "Noir, we still have to buy presents. Let's get going." "Thanks. And don't screw this up", Necros whispered toward Lucidus as they passed leaving him asking why he said that. As Necros turned towards Zhyrris to go, Lucidus heard him mumble "Damn global warming"

In the evening, Necros and Onyx had cooked in the dormitory's kitchen for those who stayed in Beacon for the holidays. They were surprisingly good at it. After dinner the most returned to bed, but some had trouble to sleep and so Necros and Lucidus met again on the terrace. "Good evening captain." Necros yawned, "trouble sleeping?" "Yes. I don't know why, its just..." Necros grinned, "Noir?" Lucidus watched him confused. "You really didn't notice did you?" "Noticed what?", Lucidus was obviously confused, "do you mean she'd behave strange?" Necros grinned, "you both did." "Strange in which way?" "Well", he laughed, "it seems like you two would like each other in a way friends wouldn't do." It took a while until Lucidus got what Necros meant. "Do you really think so?" "It isn't only me Luce, all agree that you two seem like a catastrophe … I mean a couple about to happen." Lucidus raised his eyebrow "You've made better jokes frequently. But if you say we might be a couple, I won't disagree. I don't know these feelings so I'm lost to your social competence." Necros shook his head. "Me and social? I think you mistake me for someone like, I don't know, anyone who isn't such a hermit as me. No, I'm just good at observing. But don't screw it up, or I'll kill you." "Well that's some motivation", Lucidus said, turning around to go, "but I have to tell you that you act similar to me in relation to Zhyrris.", and went back into bed. "I don't have a crush on Zhyrris.", Necros told himself, knowing that it wasn't entirely true.

The next morning, Lucidus awoke by the sound of people fighting in the yard. As he ran out, he saw Necros, Leto and Perdix going all out on each other. It was more difficult for Necros due to them all being unarmed. Additionally, he wore his aperture open so his enhanced perception made it easier for him to dodge their attacks. He mostly ducked and turned to avoid their attacks and tried to use light strikes to hit pressure points while Leto and Perdix uses their complete repertoire of jumps, kicks, flips and punches. If the two of them fought in a team, Necros wouldn't stand a chance.

"What are you doing?!", Lucidus shouted. They didn't look like they would spar, plus Necros only opened his aperture when he was serious. They seemed to not hear him.

As Necros bend backwards to avoid Letos (bare) foot and Perdix hand and tried to trigger their solar plexus, Lucidus stepped in, absorbed all the energy and released it at once so the three of them hit the ground. "What are you doing?!", Lucidus repeated. "We spar, duh", Leto answered. "Well, actually we use this fight to decide who gets the last pudding", Perdix added. "And that's a reason to lambast each other?!" Lucidus didn't know why, but something about this scene was odd. Why did they fought for food? Although... no, Leto would definitely fight for the last pudding so that wasn't the odd thing. But then he noticed. Perdix' grey glove on his right hand... was no glove.

"Perdix... is this metal?", Lucidus was confused. Perdix sighed and ripped down his sleeve. The appearance of Perdix' arm shocked Lucidus for it was completely made of metal and connected to the body by a anchorage in the chest and scapula. "Finally figured it out. You're the last one to know. This is my weapon, the mechanical arm Automail." "How did this happen? Please don't get the wrong idea, I'm just interested in the story.", he requested without having the slightest bit of commiseration. "Accident. When I was a child, I lived in a big city. One day, I saw a friend of mine and waved. As it seemed, my arm sticked out to the street. A driver was way too fast, didn't see my arm and tore it apart. I was eight back then. Luckily, my father is a mechanic and is building stuff like robots and engines every day. So he built a prosthesis and taught me how to do it because the arm doesn't grow logically and even the anchorage has to be changed when I grow. I can do everything except the surgery that connects the metal to the body and the wires to the nerves. All of this I built by myself." "But why do you hide it? I mean, it's not like Necros' eye. Your arm has no such side effects. The only thing I could imagine would be phantom pain but that's not solved by a sleeve." "I have one single reason to wear this sleeve and glove: I hate it to be pitied. I want to be treated like a normal, completely healthy person. I can't feel anything with this hand but I still have feelings." "That's all?", Lucidus couldn't quite believe it to be so... common. "Yep, that's all. I don't have any fancy past like Necros or you. I just had bad luck, but I was lucky enough to have a happy childhood" "As eloquent as always", Bastian said eating,"hey, do you know they had only one pudding left?" Perdix and Leto tried to keep their cool. "Did you... eat _it_?" "Nope, Ozpin did. I asked him why he was eating with the students and he only answered in the holidays the possibility of an occurring food-fight is almost zero." "Didn't get it", Necros shook his head. "Whatever, since our breakfast is over -farewell pudding- let's meet with the girls in the library." "Good idea Leto. And what about Onyx?" "As I said: let's meet with the girls", Leto winked and they wandered off to the library.

Noir, Zhyrris and Autumn were chatting in the library while Onyx leaned to a bookshelf reading. As the boys came in they suddenly silenced. Onyx lifted his head, "Ah. There you are." "So what were you talking about?", Necros asked. "They were planning on today's evening", Onyx replied. "Wait isn't the event completely planned by the teaching staff?" "Yes it is" "I think we shouldn't ask further", Lucidus said in reaction to Mag, watching them like she wanted to say the same. "So, until evening it still is some time, and there is still plenty to do, so why don't we help the others decorating the dormitories?", Noir asked. Necros, Onyx, Bastian, Doc and Leto replied no, Lucidus however said: "Why not", earning incomprehension from the others, except for Onyx. He just found it funny. Like everything. So while most of the boys went sparring or similar, Lucidus used his time to put up lanterns with the girls, but a bit more … sorted. All festoons hung with symmetrical arches in the same length, the lanterns always in the same distance from each other, and sorted by colour, giving the whole dormitory a strangely sorted look.

At noon the two teams met again. "I hope this is gone until the evening.", Thalia commented to Perdix, having a swelled eye, "what did you do? Sparring again?" Shamefully they nodded. "You're going to kill yourself one day with this" "Well only if they don't stop fighting, when someone's aura is fading.", Lucidus corrected, receiving a scolding from Necros. "Sorry".

The rest of the day, the two teams spent reading in the library and getting dressed, which took, mostly the ladies, several hours.

"Nervous?", Necros asked Lucidus, who was constantly checking the time, "I heard Noir will wear something … exciting." "I know. I've bought it for her." Necros was surprised, he'd never expected him to do such a thing. "It is gorgeous, but not really revealing." "If it would, you wouldn't have bought it for her right?" "Of course not. But it was difficult to find a dress compatible with the etiquette, which is still unique and attracting." Necros smiled "I know". The two wore both suits. Necros a black one with a crimson red shirt beneath and a red tie and additionally an eyepatch with his icon in gold, Lucidus however wore mainly white, except for his blue shirt.

After five everlasting minutes, their dates, Zhyrris and Noir, came out of their dorm, dressed, smiling and a bit amused, as Necros and Lucidus stood there with dropping jaws.

The night was, more or less, like expected. Onyx just grabbed something to eat and went off to the terrace, Doc stood at the bowle most of the time and Bastian read a book. However, Necros and Lucidus used their chance: "I didn't know you could dance", Noir claimed, "did you learn that at Titan two?" "No, I didn't. But my mother insisted on giving me dancing lessons."

Necros stumbled a bit while dancing but he wasn't that bad. "Poor Autumn, her feet will hurt tomorrow.", Necros was relieved about not being the worst dancer in the hall, as he saw how Leto was doing. "I hope I'm doing better." It was hard for him to concentrate while Zhyrris was near him, dancing with her wasn't easier as well. 'sometimes I owe Luce.' he thought, unknowing that he had his troubles as well. "Much better.", Zhyrris ripped him out of his thoughts again, "But you seem a bit stiff, like you wouldn't enjoy it." "Oh it just has been a while since I danced last time."

At midnight, as the moon became full for the only time in the year, the fireworks , joined by new year chorales, welcomed the new year. Most of the party guests watched the event from the hall's balcony, but Noir insisted on going to the cliff. "It's far more spectacular from up there.", she said, "not to mention, that we'd be alone." Lucidus didn't really understand why that was so important for her.

The night was cold and snow lay high on the field. Noir had held Lucidus hand all the way after they left the hall until they arrived at the spot she wanted to get. "You're right.", Lucidus admitted, "it's way better out here." He noticed that Noir had forgot her jacket and was shaking as a result. "But also very cold", she complained. "This might help." He took of his coat, laid it upon both their shoulders and took her in his arm. Though his gesture was very romantic Lucidus saw it more as the logical response to Noir being cold. To Lucidus' surprise she took it more as a romantic gesture and laid her head upon his shoulder, closed her eyes and sighed: "Still better than anywhere else." Lucidus admitted though he didn't knew the reason why.

Inside, Necros watched the other party guests. Especially two of them caught his eye. They looked like transfer students because they wore another's academy uniform and they looked somewhat... _familiar_ to him, though he couldn't explain why. And if that was not enough, he felt observed by them. Unfortunately, he couldn't tell what they were talking.

"You really think it's him?" "I'm not sure... I mean, she's searching for him since seven years ago but according to her, this person's right eye should be totally shredded. And that guy over there wears an eyepatch on his right eye. And look at his left one." "Cold as a glacier. Just like this person's. You're right, I've lost, oh great master thief." "Cut it, you don't want us to be busted. Anyway, we have to tell her."

Lucidus' scroll buzzed. "What's it?" Noir asked a bit upset about the interruption. "I don't know. I hope it isn't...", Lucidus looked up his scroll, "Noir, I need your help. Necros is in trouble"

* * *

 **A/N:** What could've happened? Seeing the new episodes we knew this is most unlikely able to be "canon-ish" but we decided to not give a damn. This is our story, no matter the canon. Or at least less matter, so to speak. As always, we hope you had fun. More will come, so stay tuned!


	7. Chapter 7: What a firework

Chapter 7: What a Firework

As he opened his eye again, he was bound to a chair. His occiput hurt like hell. He remembered going somewhere and suddenly he was smacked down. But at least he remembered stomping his foot before he got completely unconscious. "So, finally you're back, though it wasn't voluntary.", a female voice said behind him, "I still own you, don't forget that." "You wish. But at least you saved me the trouble to hunt you down.", Necros gnarled. "Barking dogs never bite. And you would drop dead pretty fast. This warehouse is crowded with White Fang. But tell me: how much do you remember from back then?" Necros sighed, still with fierce expression. "Nothing, Crimson. Between the bloody pulp called parents and you breaking my eye is nothing. Three years of nothingness. I don't even know who you really are. Only that I want to send you to oblivion." "Remember the dogs, little boy. And good, that means my experiment was at least partially successful. Right now, you have two options: Either you come with me or you die right here." "Isn't there any other option?"; Necros saw Leto standing on a skylight waving to him, "Ah, forget it. Could you at least tell me how long I'm in here?" "About three hours, I guess", a deep voice answered. "Thank you, random henchman I can't see. That means I'm out here pretty soon." And suddenly, a small ball rolled from behind some crates. "I like punctuality. Say cheese", Necros grinned as the flashbang exploded. Everyone was stunned, even the Crimson Lady for it surprised her. A hook caught one of the White Fang and suddenly he collapsed twitching. "I'll leave this to you, Bear. Don't let them get away.", the Crimson Lady commanded one of the soldiers. Lucidus ran to Necros and released him handing Acheron over. "Get a gun, Captain." "Thanks. The tracker in the shoe was a pretty good idea. But excuse me, I have to arrange a headsh... it, she's gone. And now the party starts.", he said ripping down his eyepatch to dodge attacks, "Who is with you?" "Leto, Noir and Zhyrris. The rest wasn't on the spot." Right on cue a gust of wind blew down some soldiers and Leto came in followed by Zhyrris. "Guys", he shouted, "take care of the big one. I will keep the little ones busy together with Zhyrris!" "Luce, do you have some of my clips with you?" "Only this one", Lucidus said holding a Λ-Magazine. Necros thoughts rushed. He had one normal bullet and a few Lethe, which were non-lethal if used correctly for they attacked with electricity. If he could just knock out their commander... "Luce, I have a plan"

Lucidus fell back while Necros tried to parry Bears mace with his scythe. "Before I smash your bones, boy, tell me how you know you were rescued." "In an aircraft students have access to", Necros bluffed deriving a swing, "you need about one and a half hour to get to the harbor. Plus an additional half an hour to crack my locker to get my weapon, plus half an hour for preparation plus half an hour observing and dealing with the guards. I know the methods of my teammates." A powerfull strike from Bear took down Necro's guard. He tried to recover but Bear was faster. Suddenly an iron claw hit the Bears mace and pulled the man over Necros shoulder towards Noir and Lucidus, who welcomed him with a full charged blast out of his gun. The man flew through the hall crash landing in some boxes. Necros shot him in the shoulder, for he didn't want to kill him, but was surprised as an attack from a henchman directly next to him was interrupted by a shot in his head. " You've got better!" Necros told Noir, who's smoking gun was pointed at the man. "Thanks to your training Nec."  
Their conversation was interrupted by Lucidus pointing his blade directly in front of Noir's head, because another henchman tried to attack. "What are you doing?" "Saving your life" Lucidus had parried a hit from the henchman, now he took the man's handgun with one hand and let drop out it's magazine, before punching the man in the face with it relieving the last shot left in it and knocking him out. "That was the last one.", Leto stated after knocking another White Fang out, "what are you going to do with him Nec?", he asked while approaching Bear. Necros smiled. "Just ask him some questions." "I won't say anything.", Bear stated obviously scared, "you'll have to torture me." None wanted that. "I do wander on the path of darkness,", said Necros, "but torture is even below that. So everything I can do now is kill you, as a fair charge for what you've done." He reloaded and aimed on the man's head. "Captain, I think this won't be necessary", Lucidus claimed, "just give me five minutes with him alone. I promise I will do him no harm." Necros nodded and the team left the room. Five minutes later Lucidus returned: "Cinder is outside the kingdom in a well guarded hideout. I have the coordinates right here, but there is another problem we have right now. In one of this warehouses lies an arsenal of the White Fang. We have to destroy it. Vale and the other kingdoms are in great danger if we don't." "We'll need backup", claimed Zhyrris and she was right.

"See who you can reach", Necros ordered, "Luce, Noir you come with me. You two stay at the ship and guard it. What says your scanner Luce, anyone near us?" "I have 35 heat signatures in the next 50m radius. About 20 are definitely humanoid, I don't know what the rest is. Either hovering camp-fires, which is very unlikely, or Atlesian mechs." Necros smiled. "You say that like a news report", and they turned to go. "Have you brought explosives? Or something like that?", he asked later. "Nothing but myself.", Lucidus answered, "that was a joke. We won't need any. The 'Atlesian Paladin' is equipped with a self destruct mechanism, which has a powerful enough explosion to destroy a warehouse like this with ease. We'll just have to trigger it and get away." Necros was concerned. "There is a problem with that right?" Lucidus sighed, "yes. There is no countdown on the mechanism. It explodes immediately. I won't be able to get out soon enough." Noir slammed her fist on his chest to stop him. "You won't be sitting inside there!" She looked in his eyes with fury and fear about his decision, while shouting on him like he'd be deaf, "you mustn't!" "Noir", Necros pulled her back and tried to calm her down. "Luce, is there no other way to initiate the auto destruction?" Lucidus shook his head. "It's a completely separated system. There is no way to hack it or anything like that. You have to push the button." "A bullet can push the button as well." Noir claimed while looking to Necros.

Their mission was still complicated enough. They had to get into the warehouse unseen, open a Paladin's cockpit, hit the auto destruction with a bullet and get out of the warehouse before it collapsed.  
Unfortunately the part of not being seen failed right away, and so the team was soon surrounded by members of the White Fang. "I hope Zhyrris and Leto were successful." Necros stated. They were. And with another Airship the rest of the teams NOBL, MNDL and TPAZ arrived at the docks.

"Next time you won't start the party without me", Onyx murmured emerging from the shadows behind Necros and Lucidus, "and I guess again you have a plan that makes me wonder why the people call me a giggling madman, right? Always the same with you... always a pleasure!" And in mad laughter he charged head on into battle.

When it comes to speed and efficiency with two blades, nobody could hold a candle to Onyx. To outsiders it looked like he was dancing in trance as he fought a group of eight White Fang in close combat. He bended over, ducked, turned and swung his blades, which he called Pain and Fear, so fleet-footed and well coordinated he parried the attacks of eight opponents with ease. Bastian fought side by side with Zhyrris, two people combined to one furry of slices. Doc and Thalia chose ranged combat. Doc let down one hail after another of dust vials upon the Fang while Thalia dominated the ground with traps and remote bombs. But the most impressive sight were Leto and Perdix. The two of them fought well-matched, passing the enemies into the other's attacks as if they were balls. The collaborative training really panned out, Necros thought as he watched them fighting. Even without their leader, Team MNDL was a force one should not take lightly. Team TPAZ was an expert in group tactics, too. And Team NOBL... well, three of them were lone wolves before the time at Beacon anyway, and now they were as well able to fight as a team. At least most of them.

"That's a little inappropriate situation to smile for Non-Onyxes, Scarface!", Noir shouted as she sizzled a Fang. "That's a little inappropriate nickname to call me for Non-Mags!", Necros replied. This is kind of morbid, he thought. Right now, he was on the verge of dying, but he couldn't stop enjoying the fight. He was one step closer to his goal and had a huge supply of non-lethal bullets (dead people are so tongue-tied). And now he had another reason to find the Crimson Lady. She said she _wanted_ to erase his memory of the three years. And after he fled, he possessed at least some fighting skills he definitely didn't had before his parents were killed. He wanted to know the truth, he could still get rid of her after that. He felt in arm's reach of his goal, he felt like he could put an end to the past and the questions haunting his dreams, he felt alive. He felt like he was winning.

And then, everything went wrong. Not only did the Fang's reinforcements came, but also they seemed a bit cleverer than the others for they actually _used_ their arsenal. Soon, they were surrounded by five Paladins and a bunch of Fangs. "It seems they found the steel gear", Bastian stated nervously, "and I really don't like it." The situation appeared to be hopeless. "I heard some second-year guys have fought a Paladin", but obviously Zhyrris didn't believe that this was roughly the same. "Yes, it was Ruby, the girl I know from Signal, and her team. But they were four against one, and we are ten against five plus minions. I hope you have a backup plan, otherwise we are screwed." "Not a plan but an idea!", Lucidus shouted, "Flashbang!" Leto threw the flashbang and the Fangs were stunned. As they regained sight the team stood behind them with three members missing. "You think you can use them?" Onyx asked Lucidus as they approached a warehouse. "Theoretically. You try to find some anti-tank missiles." "I hope the others come along." Bastian stated worried. They had some issues dodging the attack from the Paladins, but were coming along. Noir used her chance, as a Paladin turned it's back on her to grab her hook onto it and got on it's back. "Let's see what we got here", she said, searching for a weak-spot while trying not to get shook off. "Gotcha!" she shouted as she caused a shortcut in the Paladin's main hydraulic control. "Got him!", she said while jumping off elegant like an elf. "That still only counts as one!" Leto said slightly enraged about Noir's success.

"Paladin armed and ready", Lucidus said while jumping into the cockpit. "No missiles, but some explosives.", Bastian reported. "All right! I'll clear out the path while you plant some bombs. Be sure to follow quickly, they'll need our help." Onyx and Bastian nodded and went off as Lucidus shot down the gate and ran towards his friends.

Lucidus used the element of surprise to shoot down a Paladin with rockets before they reacted. Sadly that surprised the team as well and Doc got hit by another Paladin's machine gun from behind leaving him with deep wounds. "Fall back!", Necros screamed while running towards Lucidus, who charged towards the Fangs. Perdix used the grabbing hook in his arm to rescue Doc from further hits, while Necros took one of Thalia's remote bombs and headed to another Paladin placing and firing it on it's centre hinge.  
Lucidus had his problems as well, as he faced three remaining Paladins with only one and he wasn't familiar with the controls. Though he was able to deliver heavy strikes against his foes, he struggled at dodging their counter attacks so his robot was quickly damaged onto the disabled state. Lucidus jumped out of the cockpit and fired his gun onto the instrument panel hitting 'self destruct'. Though the explosion didn't kill him, it threw him far back against a warehouses front wall.  
Just that moment, Onyx and Bastian had finished planting the bombs, set them of and the whole complex blew up spectacularly.

"What a firework", Zhyrris said to Necros gasping for air from exhaustion while the police arrived, who answered just by nodding. Noir however ran to Lucidus to look after him. As he opened his eyes and stood up unharmed, except for a few scratches, Noir shouted at him: "You idiot! You moron! That could have killed you. How on Remnant can one man be so stupid and..." Lucidus just smiled and hugged her. "Love you lots, too", he said silencing Noir immediately. "How many did we kill?", Thalia asked while she cared for Doc's wounds. "Too many", Perdix replied with a guilty conscience, which took the whole team. Well, almost the whole team. "It was do or die", Onyx sighed, "it was not our fault." Necros shook his head. "But she got away. And that _was_ my fault. I wasn't quick enough." And then, Lucidus knew how he could turn the table. "Don't worry Captain, we will get her. Someday, we will get her." And with this words, he looked at his Scroll smiling.


	8. Chapter 8: In the centre of cyclone

Chapter 8: In the centre of cyclone

"My, my, is everything you do rash and reckless?", Ozpin wasn't the slightest bit angry, though he spoke a bit louder than normal. "It wasn't Luce's fault, professor", Necros defended Lucidus, who was far beyond nervous, "he only tried to rescue me." The headmaster smiled amused. "Oh, I didn't talk to you", he said with normal volume and then louder again, "you can stop eavesdropping now, Ms. Rose! Come in if you're that curious." The door opened a bit and a completely startled Ruby came in and stayed next to the door. "Sorry", was the only thing she mumbled. "I think I should have a word with Qrow about his private students", Ozpin said to himself, then looking at the others, "now I'm talking to you. What you did was rash and reckless. You could have died. And you should hope for Dr. Oobleck having mercy." Again, he didn't sound very angry, more worried. "But now please tell me what happened. Every detail." Necros explained the situation, how he was abducted and who the Crimson Lady, whose name apparently was Cinder, was. After that, Lucidus continued to tell the rest of the story, how they found Necros and how they barely got out there alive. As he had finished, Ozpin asked only one question: "And you think these two transfer students have something to do with that, Mr. Charon?" "I don't know", Necros replied, not knowing what he should say, "it's just... they looked at me as if they would know me the whole party. Not the curious looks I get when someone sees my eyepatch. And they... looked somewhat familiar to me. I'm sure I never met them but it felt like they'd know the Crimson Lady." Ozpin rubbed his eyes, maybe out of tiredness. It was not only past midnight, but also dawn was approaching. "Well, okay. I think we should keep the part about your past and about your suspicion a secret. You too, Ms. Rose. Especially you. But I guess sooner or later the whole school will talk about your... little adventure. And don't worry, Mr. Albus. I will inform the General about this thread, as you requested. You're dismissed. I suggest you ten go to bed now. I'd say take the day off, but you have holidays anyway. And you show up at the infirmary immediately, Dean. I don't question Ms. Gwyn's first aid, but this wound has to be treated professionally." They all agreed. The first thing they need now was sleep.

Though the shutters were closed, it was already afternoon as someone knocking on the door heavily woke Team NOBL up. Thalia, Zhyrris and Noir stood in front of the door. "We need to talk", was everything Thalia said pushing Necros aside and placing herself on Onyx' bed together with the other two girls. Apparently, Onyx was up already. His bed was empty, and the window beside it was open a crack, so they assumed he'd be on the roof again. "We know what you plan", Noir began to talk. "And we won't let you do that", Thalia continued. The girls looked worried, as well as tired. It seemed like they hadn't slept that much. In fact, they hadn't. While Perdix and Leto snored in MNDL's room, Thalia, Noir and Zhyrris sat together in TPAZ's and discussed about what would happen now and they came to the conclusion that they had to prevent Team NOBL from doing something very, very stupid.

"You know what we plan?", Necros asked, wondering what they meant, "then you know more than me. Would you mind to bring us into the loop?" Zhyrris sighed. The dark circles around her eyes indicated sleep deficit, not only because of this day, but also because she hadn't slept well and much the days before the Night, though she didn't know why. She felt uncomfortable talking about it. "You guys are impossible", her voice was full of depletion, "now that you have the coordinates Lucidus gave the General, you will neither wait for them to solve the problem nor ask for help. You'd get Luce, Onyx and Bastian and venture out on your own, leaving us here. But this arrogance would just kill you. So you won't do what you have planned." "And why won't I do what you think I would have come up with?", Necros wanted to know. Though he hadn't exactly planned it, he had to admit that this idea had tickled his mind. "Oh, this question is easy to answer", Noir replied, "First you won't skip asking for our help because deep inside you know you need us." A faint smile ran over her face. "And second and more important", she proceeded with confidence, "Zhyrris and I will strangle you if you two idiots dare to leave this school precipitately. We've put too much of effort into the socialization of you. Besides, how should we explain Mag her guinea pig ran off while she was with her family? So, keep the pace down. If you guys want to talk to us... wait until dinner, we go to bed now." With this words the girls left the room yawning.

Later that day, Necros, Leto and Lucidus were at the yard grabbing a bite and talking about what happened but Leto wasn't really paying attention. He thought about their "sounder", as Helm always referred to them. His explanation was that for now, they're more prey than predator. They've warmed up to each other quite a bit with, in relation, Onyx leading the way for he was now regularly talking to the rest of them. Necros taught Noir occasionally and he even wore no hood quite often, while Onyx still tried to keep his origin a secret. Bastian had no problem with people in the first place, so Leto wasn't surprised he made friends with Perdix and even Lucidus learned to act more... casual and calm, not necessary around him, but definitely around Noir. That made him think of Helm and himself. His greatest fear was to be rejected by others for what he was. He understood why people would fear his brother. He was definitely not completely human anymore, though he didn't lose his humanity. And Leto... in training, he wasn't very good with weapons, so after discovering his semblance, he decided to turn himself into a weapon.

"Up already, shoats?", Helm walked towards them, "I thought you'd sleep until tomorrow." Leto looked up. Why wasn't Helm in the Emerald Forest, studying Grimm like always when he hadn't classes to teach? "Before you say anything, I want you to come with me. To the training ground. You have to learn to fight persistent as well as intelligent enemies, I'm both and you're the only ones who are awake and on spot right now, so come with me, I want to punch something that can fight back."

They entered a cavern below the school. "I didn't knew this even existed! This is Awesome!" Leto Spoke out what everyone thought. The cavern was filled with grass and dirt, some small lakes and even fully grown trees were down there. "Nah, this won't do it." Helm took access to a console and everything disappeared being removed by ruins of an abandoned city, leaving Necros and Leto gasping.

"Oh, holographic environment systems right?" It seemed like Lucidus had seen something similar often. "Which version precisely?" he asked Helm, only to be disappointed with an 'I don't know'. "Are you kidding me?", Leto asked Lucidus, "How do you.. why do you... what do you..." "Know what this is?", Lucidus finished Leto's sentence, "my father developed it."

"Come on, at least try to hurt me!", Helm exclaimed a bit disappointed, "make me use more of my Shell than on my arms." For the two hours the three of them were fighting Helm, he pretty much used them as punching bags. His arms were covered in his white Darwin Shell and when he didn't move, Poe sat down on his shoulder. The presence of this scientist made a chill run down one's spine. Necros was desperate. He wasn't able to scratch the Shell, let alone break it. Plus, he couldn't use most of his projectiles because of their lethality. The skills he had were for killing Grimm, not humans. Or were they? When it came to Ursa he was a merciless executioner back in the day. It was another reason he was called 'the Reaper' at Signal. What if that mercilessness was deep in his centre all along? And why should the Crimson Lady turn him into a sleeper? What had happened during the three years wiped from his mind? He was Necros Charon, at least nowadays, and he wouldn't let anything change that. But he wasn't sure whether this was his real name or not. He remembered almost nothing about the first seven years of his life, except the death of his parents. Even their faces were just blurred images. And then the time with Cinder... What information was hidden in his memories? Would he have become an executioner for her? Or simply another worthless minion? He just wanted to know, he wanted his memories back, no matter if that means to remember being trained into a merciless killer or into a benevolent saint. He didn't care for the outcome.

"Why are you holding back?", Helm asked shaking his head, "you slay Grimm without a second thought. And I am part Grimm, so it should be less a problem for you to attack me than anyone else." He knew it didn't work like this but the three noticed it was irony. "I can't shoot at you without inflicting serious injuries which would take a while to heal", Necros tried to justify. "And we can't just slice you straight up", Lucidus continued, "so Necros is pretty useless against you except for his semblance, no offence." Helm looked at them. His brother was the only one to look quite sound. The other two looked dead beat, not only because they were awake too long. "It's this woman, right? But trust me, if you go, you return in a coffin. Let the pros handle this. As soon as Ironwood captured her, you can smack her face all day long. But for now, calm down. You need rest. And training." Helm noticed Necros putting something in Mavrós Acheron's chamber. "Do you listen to me?" "Of course I did. But I just remembered something. You said we should try to hit you, right?" Suddenly, Necros aimed at Helm and shot. The bullet hit perfectly between his eyes. "Dead centre", Necros smiled.

Meanwhile, the girls woke up again. "Hey, Noir", Zhyrris started, "what is 'that'?" "What do you mean by 'that'?" "That thing between you and Luce, of course! Don't you think, you could let us in on this 'thing'?" Noir sighed. "Is it really that obvious?"

The rest nodded. "I don't know whether there really is something between us or not. It's just... I..." Noir's voice failed. "Love him?" Zhyrris asked and Noir nodded "But don't you tell him!" she said and let small lightnings flash between her fingers. "Zhys, you and Nec aren't much better.", Mag said, "you're just better in hiding it" Zhyrris wanted to say something but... "Aaand denying it. But Noir didn't he said something like 'I love you' yesterday?" "No, not really.", Noir remembered, "or I think he didn't meant it that way." "he said 'I love you two' how else could it be meant?" Zhyrris said. She was right, it seemed clear but still Noir was still concerned. Except for this phrase he didn't really seemed to be interested in a relationship going further than friendship.

Helm laid on his back, red liquid running down his nasal bridge. Leto stood there, eyes wide open, petrified by shock. Immediately, Necros felt Silver Lining at his throat. "Would you mind telling us what you did there?", Lucidus demanded to know. He couldn't believe what he saw. The person he trusted most (ok, second most, he admitted) just shot Leto's brother without a flinch. "Well, I shot him. Isn't that obvious?", Necros answered calmly. He didn't sound as if he was sorry at all. He just slowly lowered Acheron, put it to the ground and raised his arms. Then he began to smile.

"Ok, one point for you, shoats", Helm stated while cleaning the paint from his forehead, "But this won't help you against anyone except sparring partners." Steadily he rose and stretched his muscles. "But now I understand why it's better not to be your target, Eyepatch. Even though it was just a paintball, your gun shoots high velocity. If I hadn't created a little bit of Shell it would have hurt." Helm tilted his head left and right, letting his neck creak. If he wasn't the monster among them he would have shivered seeing Necros' eye right before he pulled the trigger. Absolute zero was warm compared to it in this exact moment. Thanks to his Grimm instincts, he felt the mercilessness coming from him, which gave him enough time to create his shell. Luckily, this guy's on our side, he thought. "Well, let's call it a day", Helm declared, "you guys hurry up and grab something to eat. Ladies don't like waiting", he added winking.

As they got to dinner, the others, except Doc, were already eating and chatting. Onyx had already wolfed down his meal and was just chewing on some gristles making them break and crack between his teeth. "So, what do we do know?", Bastian was the first to ask. Suddenly he felt watched. Even the annoying cracking stopped. To the surprise of everyone, Necros answered. "I guess it's back to school for us." The others couldn't believe it. "Did he just retreated from his 'hunting her down'?", Perdix asked completely confused. "We can't help it", Necros continued, "we're exhausted, even wounded, and the military would sent us right back here anyway." He sighed. To Lucidus it sounded a bit like the captain was relieved to be able to relax a little bit. "Plus", he added looking at hit plate, "the girls and Helm would kill us if we'd leave the school." And with that, the conversation was finished.

That night Necros couldn't sleep, what happened ever so often, and went to the roof. To his surprise a faunus with wolf ears was there, too, and looked at him. The boy seemed strangely familiar to Necros. The faunus just sat on the railing and watched him calmly, as if he'd observe his prey. "You're with her?", was the only thing Nec wanted to know. The answer was a shake of the head. "Then leave me alone." Nothing happened. After some staring down each other the faunus snorted. "You reek of fear. Aren't you supposed to be the Reaper? The merciless executioner of Grimm? Right now your amount of courage is equivalent to that of a coney." Necros placed himself next to the faunus, leaning on the railing. He couldn't believe that him of all people was saying this to him. It was so ridiculous he began to laugh. "The Rogue, the one who's constantly hiding his face talks to me about courage? I hope you don't mind if I call this confusing." "You're... not surprised I'm a faunus?" Necros tapped on the cold metal of the handrail and looked into the clear sky. What should he say? That it was obvious to him due to Onyx's sleeping and eating habits? Due to the fact he could tell whenever Necros was cooking just because of the fainting hints of smell in their dorm room? "Nah, why should I be surprised or have a problem with it?", he answered instead, "we all have things we hide. There's nothing to be surprised about." Onyx chuckled covering his face with his hand. "Is it like that?", Onyx replied and for the rest of the night they kept quiet, staring into the starry sky.


	9. Chapter 9: Back to normality

Chapter 9.1: Back to normality

The next day, normality had set in again and everyone was minding their own business more or less. Lucidus was cleaning while Necros maintained Acheron as Bastian came in stuttering. "Guys, my world got destroyed..." "What's it? Did your favorite author die?" Necros turned around to face Bastian, closed his aperture and rose his eyebrow, causing the eyepatch to twitch. "No, way worse: I saw Onyx... _talking_ to somebody!", Bastian scratched his chin, "no, no, this hadn't enough impact... Onyx. Talking. To a girl. On his favourite spot on the roof." Exhausted, he sat down on his bed. Nec put away his screwdriver and checked the chamber. "Have you seen the colour of her hair? Or something else?" Bastian frowned, trying to think back. He was on the roof deck reading, as he witnessed Onyx on the roof, talking with a long haired person... "I think it was orange or light red..." That was enough information for Lucidus to know who it was. "So it was Lenpha Fayón, she's in our class", Lucidus nodded, "member of Team Carbuncle." Bastian seemed to become more startled. This was truly beyond his imagination. "What? The shy fox-cutie? And our mad, creepy Onyx spoke to her? I didn't imagine him to be such a ladies' man." Necros shook his head. He was already meddling with his rifle again, controlling the more delicate mechanisms. "I don't think this is the case... why don't you just ask when we see him again? And don't forget how protective her captain is, Sen or whatever his name is." Bastian thought a moment but Lucidus was faster. "Cen Tzu, C spoken as a sharp S, the 'Spinel Meteor', captain of Team CFKL. Trust me, he's a hard one to fight, his disciplined fighting is not even matched by Leto." Bastian shivered, then a wide grin spread over his face. "Yeeeah, I remember that lucky bastard. The guy with dark red hair, the only male his team has to offer. And its captain he is..." Lucidus saw Nec's eye rolling. He picked a spring from his replacement equipment and flicked it against Bastian's forehead. Didn't get the joke, Lucidus thought. Or at least he didn't _want_ to get the joke.

If you should describe Cen Tzu with one word, most had surely said 'exotic' or 'disciplined'. The first one was caused by his appearance and his weapon: wide pants, a slim fit shirt with strings instead of buttons, a jacket always hanging from his shoulders; his dark eyes were slim and from the right side of his forehead a single braid hung down. His weapon gave him his nickname. The 'Spinel Meteor' was a meteor hammer, a chain with spheric counterweights at the ends. And his fighting style was one of the reasons he was called disciplined: Once the Meteor gained speed, he had to keep it in motion and he did. His body was perfectly coordinated, there was not a single flaw in his movement but that was crucial for fighting. The Meteor wasn't just circling, it was moving the way its master intended by using his whole body to fight.

Later that day Necros came back from shopping as he passed a crowd in the yard. He couldn't see what went on, so he asked a girl in an dark orange jacket with blue sleeves and a mechanical bird on her shoulder. "Oh, this?", the birdgirl explained, "Cap Tzuzu is beating up two guys cause he thought one of them tried to hit on Len." Necros didn't understand one word. Who was she talking about? Then he heard a swear and the situation was clear to him. "Please, what's your name again?" "Kess." "Ok, please Kess, don't tell me one of them wears headphones and the other one hides his face beneath a hood..." He'd heard Cen was protective but he feared some inappropriate comment of Bastian has made him snap. After he bid Kestrel to look after his grocery bags he made his way through the crowd and saw them: Onyx and Bastian, trying to avoid Cen Tzu's Spinel Meteor which was no easy task. Onyx did pretty well without using his semblance, contrary to Bastian who had to warp constantly to keep himself out of danger. Nec's hand met his face. Wherever there was trouble, one of his team was there, too, sometimes it was him. "What the heck are you DOING?!", he shouted using his semblance on the three brawlers. "I'm teaching these pervs a lesson", Cen replied giving his two opponents a fierce look. "Tzuzu", Kestrel joined the discussion, arms behind the head, "sometimes you should try to talk with words instead of your meteor when your protector's instinct sets in." Onyx was on his feet again. Surprisingly, he was not in high moods. "And again I doubt that _I AM_ the lunatic in here! I told you, I was just talking to her about the nomad tribes but nooo, you think I seduced her, crazy border collie." Kestrel whistled a melody and her bird landed on her shoulder. "Don't be too mad with him, Tzuzu is overprotective when it comes to Len, Nya and me", she tried to calm him down. Her hands were still behind her head, so it looked a bit awkward how her bird sat there and it got even more awkward the moment she turned around because of loud, fast steps behind her. Lucidus and Lenpha came near, sweaty, after they had run all over the campus to search for Necros; Lenpha's hair was in disorder and Luce's coat wasn't as straight as usual due to the hectic. It must have looked terribly wrong. At least to Cen. "Oh no, you too?!", he shouted at Lucidus. "Cen, wait!", Lucidus tried to appease him but Cen already kicked a sphere at him, who simply caught it and absorbed the energy. "Seriously Cen? I came here to end this fight but all you do is starting a new one?" Not only Lucidus but also Necros got angry. He took one of Bastians gunblades and shot into the air. "Will everyone just shut up and lower their weapons so we can talk this out instead of trying to murder each other? Thank you!", he shouted into the silence he just created. After handing over the weapon and fetching the groceries Necros rubbed his temple and demanded an explanation for this turmoil. As it turned out Cen had attacked Onyx and Bastian because of a suggestive comment Bastian had given Onyx concerning Lenpha although he had only chatted with her about the nomad tribes outside of the kingdoms' borders. You could clearly see the embarrassment in Cen's face. As an olive branch Cen offered to cook dinner for the teams but Necros declined in a friendly manner. Firstly, it was partly Bastians fault this fight started. Secondly, and more important, he'd never allow a homemade dinner to be cooked without him, so he altered the offer into both of them would prepare something.

You know, when someone like Necros and Cen choose to cook, you better have an empty stomach cause their food is _good._ At the end of the day, it had been enough for two teams, a researcher and a Nevermore. Helm stumbled upon them, invited himself and at the of the day they still had leftovers. Not to mention that Cen and Onyx had challenged each other only two times. It was a fun evening and Bastian was happy to see his team not being socially awkward for once.

* * *

Chapter 9.2: Guilt and comfort

Noir had trouble sleeping that night, so she went to the roof terrace like she usually did when this was the case. She sat down at the brink letting her legs hang over it and sighed. The night was lovely, she should enjoy it, but something kept her from smiling. She stretched herself out and looked up into the sky. 'Not a single cloud to see.' she thought. "I knew you'd be here." Noir was frightened as someone had come on the terrace too out of nowhere. She turned around ready to release a lightning upon the intruder, as she saw it was just Lucidus. "I'm sorry, I should have knocked." "At which door?" "Good point." Noir had to laugh, It was the first time Lucidus had made a joke. At least an unintended one. "Isn't it strange that we accidentally meet each time one of us comes here? Some might find it suspicious." Apparently he didn't knew about it, 'So Mag had kept her promise.', Noir thought. She sighed, "They do. Anyway, what brought you here? Couldn't sleep?" Sometimes Noir could read minds. At least it seemed that way to Lucidus. "Yes, again. But I don't really know why." Lucidus hated to lie, but if he'd said that he was worried because Noir hadn't smiled and seemed exhausted in the past two days... He wasn't in love with her, at least he didn't knew of it. He noticed how he reddened, luckily Noir didn't notice. She gazed into the night, but not like before. She wasn't daydreaming. There was no joy in her face, no hope just one emotion: guilt.  
"Are you ok?", Lucidus asked Noir. "I don't know. I keep seeing his face, the man I killed back at the docks.", Noir felt how her throat tightened, how guilt started to strangle her, "I can't forget the fear, the shock in his face. I..." Lucidus took her head, wiped off her tears and saw deep into her eyes. "I know how you feel. I've seen death too often... But don't let the guilt break you. You can't change what happened but you can change what will happen. So stop thinking of the things you did wrong, and think about what you'll set right." Noir smiled again. Though he seemed cold on the outside he certainly had a heart of gold.  
No, what he suggested wasn't something easy to do, but Lucidus was sure it would work. It had helped him after his sister's death and ever since. He was just happy to see Noir smiling again.

"Had a date again?" Lucidus was surprised to see someone still awake at this time, especially Bastian. "Why are you here? Usually you're already snoring like a mourning wood this time of the night." "Hey it's hard to sleep if someone in your dorm keeps turning around in the sleep. Especially if his bed makes a noise each time. Anyway you didn't answer my question." Lucidus rolled his eyes. "I don't know why you think we'd be dating. We're just friends." They entered their dorm, Bastian still giggling. "I hope you didn't screw up.", Necros quipped without looking away from Acheron and flipped a broken bolt at Lucidus. "Well placed, the joke was bad, still.", Lucidus replied catching the screw. Nec sat at his desk tinkering with Acheron, as he did often. 'This is a conspiracy against me', Lucidus thought, "You too, my captain?", he asked Necros. "And this is why I hate you guys sometimes.", at least Onyx was on his side, "that you think I would have a crush on Lenpha though Titan's crush on Noir is way more obvious.", or not. Nec and Bastian had to laugh, though.

The next day Noir and Lucidus sat, like usually, next to each other in every class they had together and during lunch. "I think I'm going to quit." Noir's confession shocked everyone, even Onyx dropped something of his food. "What? Why?", Lucidus was the first to ask that question, though he knew the reason. "You chose this life as you came here. Why would you give it up now? Why would you leave us, your friends, behind?" Noir sighed. "I... I can't handle the stress, the feelings of guilt, the fear of loosing someone you love... and My mother called me this morning, she wants me to come back to Mistral." To Lucidus, Noir seemed not to be herself. "Since when do you give up when it gets too difficult? The Noir I knew wouldn't give up so easily. And she would never agree with her overprotective mother." Usually Noir laughed over every joke but this time she remained silent. "You know exactly why Lucy.", and she left. Lucidus tried to stop her but knew he couldn't. "What's wrong with her?", even Mag didn't knew what's going on, "she seemed so happy just yesterday... though something seemed wrong. But... not that wrong." Something like that had never happened before. Noir wasn't someone to snap so easily. 'It struck her harder than it had struck me', Lucidus thought. He knew exactly how Noir felt now. He remembered how he killed his former comrade Stephan by accident during a simulated assault. Lucidus had lost control after Stephan had fired a blank cartridge at him.  
Even after psychological treatment Lucidus lived in fear of himself for many years. Not to mention, that he was labelled a murderer by his former friends, who had abandoned him after the incident. He wanted to prevent Noir going through all of this too. He didn't want her to isolate herself. He didn't want her to fear herself like he had.  
"Where are you going?", Mag asked Lucidus as he got up. "Convincing Noir to stay.", Lucidus shortly replied and left.

He found Noir sitting at the edge of Beacon cliff, her arms around her drawn-in knees. Her eyes were red and her make-up was blurred. Noir had cried.  
Lucidus sat down next to her: "Excuse the honesty, but you look horrible." Noir punched him on the shoulder: "Little jerk." Lucidus smiled. "Are you ok?" What an idiotic question, of course she wasn't ok! "No... But thanks for asking.", Noir sniffed. It was hard for Lucidus to see her that way. Usually he was the one who needed someone to talk to, someone to help but now it was Noir, and he didn't knew what to do. "Can I help you, somehow?" Noir nodded and leaned over to him, putting her head on his shoulder: "Thank you.", she said.  
"You do know that I won't let you leave?", ok a bit too straight forward what he thought but Noir should understand it the right way. "Lucy." "I mean, you want to give up your friends and all you've achieved so far, because you are afraid of loosing it? It makes no sense." Noir got up again. "You can't understand it." Lucidus shook his head while standing up. "I understand it much better than you think. I've thought that way too. And believe me if I say, what you want to do is dumb. It will break you and I don't want this to happen." He tried to reach for Noirs hand but she took a step back. "Noir! Please don't abandon your friends. We want to help you.", he tried to grab her. "Leave me alone!" Noir summoned a lightning between her hand and Lucidus' chest to push him away. Suddenly he coughed, clasped his chest and collapsed, falling face first into the dirt. "Lucy!", Noir screamed in total panic. She tried to take him up and bring him to the next airship, but Lucidus was twice as heavy as he should be. She called for help and two men carried Lucidus into the airship leaving for the nearest hospital.  
Noir opened Lucidus' shirt to try CPR. She put her hands in position and tried to push, but the chest wont give in. She tried again but still nothing moved. Suddenly she noticed a small light flashing under the skin. She knocked on Lucidus' chest: it sounded metallic. "Oh shit! I'll need a mechanic not a doctor!"  
The two arrived at emergency admission, Noir described how it had happened and that she believed Lucidus was at least a cyborg if not a robot. "What's his last name again?", the doctor asked. "Albus. Why do you ask?", Noir replied, but didn't get an answer as the doctor had ran off after he had heard the name. As he returned he brought a strange looking pump with him. "You've had most likely produced a short-circuit in his heart substitution system. The emergency systems are still active, but won't hold on for very long." He entered the surgery where Lucidus lied on a bed. "Turn him around.", he ordered his assistants. The doctor cut open Lucidus' shirt on the back. There was no skin on that side of Lucidus' body. The doctor removed a synthetic plate. Noir was right Lucidus is a cyborg. She now saw it her own. Though bones could clearly be seen as base of his spines structure, metal enhancements and small motors, screws and electronics dominated the majority of Lucidus' interior. The doctor removed a few screws and carefully pulled out a pump similar to the one he had brought with him. "As I said. A short in the heart electronics. Good Mr. Albus send us a spare, he seems to know his son." The doctor put the new heart in and locked everything in place finishing his task by turning Lucidus back around, who was still sedated.  
"Do you hear me?", Noir asked him. "He's heard you all the time. He was fully concious since you electrocuted him in the first place, he had just trouble moving any of his muscles. Imagine if you are running on an emergency heart pumping once every second... He'll regain full mobility in the next 24 hours, I'd like to keep him here though, if any trouble occurs. It's a lot of stress for his body.", the doctor left and Noir and Lucidus were alone.  
Noir sighed after a while. "I'm sorry Lucy. You just wanted to convince me to stay with my friends, with you... but I was totally torn up... so taken by guilt I didn't see what I really wanted. I..." "No", Lucidus interrupted though his voice sounded like he was choking the whole time, "I am responsible. I was indelicate, rude, and rough to you. You reacted normally. And of course you didn't knew that I'm vulnerable to EM-shocks." Noir shook her head and wiped off some happy tears. "No. It's definitely my fault, I forgot that you are yourself still.", and she gave Lucidus that nice smile that says: 'I've just roasted you'. "Ouch! Touché Madame." Lucidus admitted and tried to smile, but he was told to stop it immediately because it would look "Like a smiling zombie."  
Noir sat on Lucidus' bed. "You still can't move right?", she was planning something. Lucidus nodded. "Well, I'll just use your helplessness.", Lucidus thought of such horrible things like drawing... things on his face or even worse tickling him while he can't tickle back buuut... well...  
Noir lied down. Her chest on his, closing in letting her nose touch his. "Close your eyes dammit!", she said chuckling. The next Lucidus felt was more than overwhelming. I guess you got what I meant. You know. First kiss and stuff.

Anyway it maybe wasn't the best timing as suddenly a far too well known voice said: "I told you we'll find them making out with each other."


	10. Chapter 10: A very old Friend

Chapter 10: A very old friend

"I think I got one", her secretary had entered Liz' bureau without knocking first, what she hated, so she ignored her altogether. "Liz?..." Aquamarine sighed, left the room again and knocked. "Come in!" Aquamarine entered shaking her head. She hadn't expected to work under such a picky boss back when she applied for a job at the Inter Kingdom Alliance of Reconnaissance and Undercover Services, or short IKARUS. "Anyway. So I think I found a possible recruit for the SPIRIT-devision." SPIRIT was short for _Special Purpose Instant Rescue and Intervention Tracker_ and they were the most secret as well as sadly the ones put in greatest danger. As masked fighters and trackers they work mostly alone, being dispatched should a peaceful solution prove itself impossible.

Aquamarine handed Liz the folder with information. "Indigo Jones.", she continued, "sort of a huntsman, no social contact, morally stable." Liz just nodded while reading the reports. "Oh right! Lavender is still on the profile, she'll bring it up as soon as she's done." Again Liz nodded. "Sort of a huntsman?" she asked. Aquamarine chuckled: "He dropped out of Beacon after only half a year. He never graduated." Liz closed the folder. "Smells like a story." Aquamarine nodded, "it's quite one. He caught a student dealing on the campus, one of his teammates. He reported it and the case went to police, who directly arrested the student without researching further. Indigo regretted his decision and started investigations himself, endangering himself and other students. He caught the man responsible but his whole team died in a face off with the Mafia. Indigo saw himself responsible and left the school." Liz got up. "Any other candidates today?" Aquamarine shook her head "None that fit so well." Liz waited with her decision for the profile but sent a free SPECTRE (short for _Special Purpose Exploration, Communication and Territory Reconnaissance Entity)_ to shadow Indigo.

Who sat in a bar drinking, trying to forget, as usual. What wasn't as usual was the group of three men coming in with guns blazing and demanding all the change of bar and customers. "Take what you want but stop shooting!", Indigo said, "My headache is already almost killing me." He heard a gun clicking next to his ear. "Don't mind if I solve this for you right?" Indigo shook his head. "Begging for trouble, are we? Well, I think I'm sober enough to deal with you, even if hungover." The robber fired his gun but missed entirely as Indigo suddenly stood behind him holding a blade to his throat and pointing an totally oversized handgun at his co-robbers. "Give the cash and everything back and leave, blood stains aren't something I want to have on my shirt." The robbers just laughed at him, what he didn't exactly liked. He turned around, put the sword back into the scabbard/ handgun and struck down the robber he'd just threatened. And all of that in less than a second, creating a motion blur that looked like a wave on the shore. He changed hands on the scabbard holding it like a rifle, aimed and shot the guns out of the hands of the robbers, then switched back and struck them down too, before they could even react. Indigo massaged his forehead and slowly went back to the counter re-claiming his seat. "What was that?", the bartender asked, "thank you man... boy... alright give me your name and you'll get discounts no one though were possible." Indigo again massaged his forehead. "Nah, thanks. Just give me some whiskey for now, a hair of the dog is what I need." After that glass was finished to, he got up, paid and just went out, ignoring the bartender begging him to stay and tell him his name.  
Indigo soon found out he was being followed. 'This fellow isn't as dumb as the usual ones', he thought, 'he looks like a normal man sitting on a bank to relax. But I've walked past him 4 times this day.' The next time he saw the man sitting on another bench he sat down next to him. "Beautiful weather today, right?", Indigo asked, "blue sky, bright sun, clear sight. Perfect to shadow someone." To his surprise the man kept his cool. "Yup. Wonderful weather. How did you find out? I guess you saw me every time I took a break to enjoy the sun, not when I really shadowed you. Or did you notice me this morning in your hotel?" Indigo shook his head. "I was the waiter. What about lunch? No? I was the man sitting the table next to yours. And of course in the bar, where I set next to you on the counter." Indigo was astonished. Either this man was lying, or he was the best spy he knew.

"... In short, He's perfect for the job." Lavender had just finished informing Liz about Indigo's psychological profile. "You recommend him?", Liz asked to make sure. "Yes", Lavender said, "he fits the SPIRIT stereotype perfectly." Liz didn't get the joke, or just didn't think it was funny. "Recruit him." "Huh? Oh right the SPECTRE." It was hard to tell whether Liz was talking to whoever was in her bureau, or to someone on the radio.  
"So when you're really that good as a spy, why didn't you help me out in the bar?" Indigo was kind of interrogating the SPECTRE "I had to find out your combat abilities, whether YOU are really as good as you say and I'm no fighter. By the way, I'm with IKARUS. We're some sort of a secret police/ intelligence service for inter kingdom affairs. And because we always need new recruits -due to our high mortality count, I won't lie to you- you're hired. That's also the reason I shadowed you in the first place. If you want I bring you to the boss who will explain everything to you..."

"I leave you alone for one weak and something like _this_ happens?!", Mag complained as she returned from home, "Doc in the infirmary, Luce in hospital and Onyx talking casually to Lenpha. Though the last isn't bad, do I want to know how the first two things happened?" The group ate breakfast and looked down, ashamed. Mag was really pissed and she had every reason to be. The gang's little adventure quickly went around and for the last few days it was the number one topic on the campus. Surprisingly most of them were able to keep their... participation a secret so the only ones involved everyone agreed at were the infamous Reaper, the mad Rogue, Bastian, Lucidus and Helm. And the storytelling escalated really quickly. "Speak of the devil. Look who just entered", Onyx grumbled so he wouldn't have to answer Mag. And indeed, there was Noir accompanied by Lucidus walking on a cane. "Don't worry guys, I'm just using this because my doctor insisted", he greeted them, "and could you please tell me who that Paladin Crusher everyone is whispering about is?" The group blinked at him and Perdix, Leto and Onyx burst into laughter. Necros, however, rubbed the ring under his eye. "He's one of the most well known students of Beacon. Atlessian, white hair, some kind of heir, talks posh regularly." "Schnee?", Lucidus just looked at him confused. "They are talking about you, genius", he yawned, "our team is the only one they now for sure was involved. And they know you ripped Paladins apart." Lucidus was completely baffled but only for a short time. Then he began to grin. "Paladin Crusher, huh? Has a nice ring to it, don't you think?" Mag, on the other hand, was not amused. "Paladins?! Are you completely nuts?", she demanded raising a finger, "don't answer, please, this question was unnecessary. But now, explain. Everything." And they did. Luce kept silent most of the time and Nec was hunched over his meal as if his face could meet his plate sleeping anytime. After the story was finished and Mag had blown off steam by vigorously peeling and eating fruit Nec wagged an envelope in front of Luce's face. "The letter was delivered to our room but addressed to S. Albus", Necros explained handing it over, "and the only sign of a sender is some fancy "L". Some prank?" Luce just shook his head. "Why prank? It's addressed to me, Saul Albus. Nothing special." Now everyone else was confused. "Dude, since when is you name Saul?", Leto was the first one to ask. "Your name is Lucidus, not Saul.", Noir added questioning. "Who told you that?", Lucidus, or apparently Saul, frowned in disarray, "I definitely did not. My parents gave me the name Saul Lucas Albus and why should I tell you any other name?" He took the letter and left leaving everyone else confused. He was right somehow. He was definitely not Lucidus, his personality had changed completely. But who was this new/ old personality called Saul? "I tried to warn you", Noir explained with a sad face, "but he is 'blessed' with amnesia. He isn't remembering the death of his sister and anything connected to it. And yesterday is also gone due to anaesthetics. So, he's basically someone with Lucy's memories. But please, don't talk about _her,_ he seems happy for once and the doctor said the memories will come back eventually. There's no need to rush things, right?" And as the group saw her desperate face they silently agreed on doing her the favor.  
Meanwhile Saul had returned to the dorm and opened the letter.

 _Dear Saul,  
I know you hate your former name, but no matter what you say or do my dear, to me you'll always be the little smiley boy that made me laugh. _

Saul didn't understand. What was Liz talking about? He had never changed since he was a child, at least not that deeply.

 _However honey, it has been a long time since we last met and shared a cup of tea so I'll be visiting you and your school in a few days. Actually, my airship should arrive a few minutes after you've read this letter. Hurry, I don't like to wait!_

Classic for Elisabeth or 'Liz', his grandmother. No asking, no warning, just arriving precisely as she meant to. Saul did as he was asked, got up again and went for the airship ports.

Meanwhile Liz had already arrived and was coming out of the airship. "You're sure they'd be possible recruits?", a man in a blue trench coat who wore a plain white mask and was armed with some sort of anchor and a sword asked her, "Aren't they -I don't know- a little too young?" Liz shook her head, "Too young to recruit them now; Yes. Too young to observe them and recruit later; No. And don't speak so loud. Not everybody needs to know of our Intention. Plus, you were just recruited yourself, no need to judge others." Liz closed her eyes and sighed. "You can come out now, I've heard you." Onyx stepped confused out of the airships shadow, which had hidden him completely. "Ok granny, how did you?" Liz smiled and turned away towards Saul who had just left the dormitory.

Saul recognised his grandmother already from the distance. Long grey cape, white scarf, a grey suit beneath, her white hair up and silver eyes fixed on him from great distance.  
"Granny!" Saul ran towards his Grandmother, his arms stretched out for a hug. "Granny?" Liz asked confused, "It's almost been a millennia since you called me that last honey... Aaand since you last hugged me.", though confused by her grandsons suddenly changed behaviour she quietly enjoyed being treated like a family member again. Nothing she was very often due to her job. "Tell me,", she asked, "what broke you up?", she noticed Noir walking out of the hall and looking at Saul, "or should I say who?" Saul smiled and chuckled "Well,... she's definitely special to me -don't tell her- but broke up? What should be broken up?"  
Saul and Lucidus definitely weren't the same, though having the same body. OK both were posh talkers and had white as their favourite colour but the similarities ended there. While Saul was highly emotional, grinned and chuckled all the time, Lucidus had always controlled his emotions and barely ever smiled if ever laughed. And of course clothing: Lucidus wore everything ALWAYS clam, Saul however left his collar open and wore the coat fully opened up.  
"Anyway," Liz said, "I'm not here just to see only you, tell me is Ozpin's office still in the tower's pinnacle?" Saul nodded and Liz walked off again heading for the main building.  
"Granny huh?", Nec asked Saul, "you two seem further attached than that." Nec was right. "She basically raised me.", Saul said, "My parents hadn't the time for me, due to my father being CEO of ASL and my mother a Captain of the Atlesian air-fleet, so she raised me for them although she's still very active in the inter kingdom relationships." Nec shook his head. "You lucky bastard had still a granny to look after you."

"Not now Glynda! I'm busy." It wasn't quite Oz' typical behaviour to answer the door that way. "How rude", Liz responded, "No time for very old friends?" Ozpin had to laugh. "Come on in Liz, It was far to long since we last enjoyed a cup of tea, well coffee for me, together, and I surely need a small break."

"So", Oz continued after handing the cup over to Liz, "what brings you to Vale, except visiting your grandson and an old friend?" Liz first took a sip of the tea before explaining her idea of recruiting team NOBL for IKARUS as soon as they had their exams. Ozpin first disagreed, fearing Onyx and Necros wouldn't obey authorities but Liz, as usual, proved his concerns to be unnecessary because she wanted to see them in action first before deciding anything. And of course would she have the necessary leverage to be able to control at least Necros. Oz, under protest, agreed on sending team NOBL on a mission to an old water power plant's dam in the ruined city of Lake Galoot. The mission was incredibly dangerous, so he insisted on Liz taking further reinforcements which she could choose with her but should at least be trained huntsmen. Nodding she kept her bodyguard's qualification a secret. Nobody had to know that Code Dutchman was a just recruited self-trained fighter as long as he did his job sufficiently.

As NOBL entered the main hall, the other teams were picking their first field mission. "Great, they get to choose their activity.", Onyx grumbled. He had to admit, their job seemed promising but he was annoyed by the fact of assignment. "Stop complaining wolfboy", Bastian scolded Onyx and turned his plain steel ring between his fingers. The group just looked at him confused. "Oh come on!", he groaned, "I saw it during the fight with Cen. Plus it's the only reason for him to talk to someone so totally out of his league like Lenpha." Surprisingly, Necros was the first one to laugh, followed by Saul. Onyx just hemmed and kept quiet for once. "No hard feelings, man", Bastian continued grinning, "anyway, I have to get something before we can depart. Wait for me!" With that he ran off to the dorm. Almost every other team was busy doing something, picking their job or getting ready and meeting up with their observer. MNDL was exempt from this task since Doc was still injured but TPAZ had to choose a mission on their own. "Do you know", Necros heard Thalia approaching them, "how hard it is to get a mission that is _not_ overkill should bad luck wants your team mate to forget about time?" She shot a glance over to a very sorry looking Autumn and adjusted her slingshot-gauntlet. "Nope", Saul dryly answered, "since we had the honour of Ozpin assigning a mission to us out of sheer awesomeness. And maybe also because my Grandma is supervising it." Thal shook her head chuckling. As always she had her _very_ large handbag filled with traps, grenades, exploding slingshot ammo, first aid stuff and the likes with her. Almost everyone in their class was wondering how all of this junk could possibly fit into the bag but Thalia kept it a secret. She whistled as Bastian came back. "Shopping at Huntsmen's Taylor?", was the only thing that came out of Saul's mouth. "You have to spend your money on something", Bastian replied winking. And indeed, instead of his run down coat he wore completely new gear, except for his scarlet headphones and the plain steel ring on his right ring finger. He was now dressed in a white shirt showing a Vale Kingdom print around the heart's location. Additionally, a black leather jacket with silvery fur seaming the collar, sleeve- and lower-rim that had his signature icon in white on the back covered his torso. On the right hand he wore a black fingerless glove and, as mentioned, his old steel ring, the left only showed two white gold rings, one around the thumb and one around the middle finger. Above the white shoes was a jeans, its lower right leg also silvery. And each of his gunblades, Typhoon and Tsunami, hung on one of the crossed belts. "Now that we all are ready", his smile got wider, "we shall meet with the old lady, shouldn't we?" And grinning he marched towards Liz's aircraft, leaving the rest's jaws dropped.

Describing Liz' airship as futuristic doesn't quite cut it. The overall hawk-like shape was only disrupted by the manoeuvring thrusters mounted under the tailplane fin, while the main thrusters must have been inside the Aircraft's wings. It had two sliding doors on the main body, opening to some sort of cargo bay. Inside Liz's secretary Aquamarine and bodyguard Indigo -or Code Dutchman as he was called wearing the mask- awaited the team guiding them to the main passenger cabin located just in front of the cargo bay, where Liz had awaited them. She sat on a chair with a wing-shaped back in front of a escritoire in a, by a curtain, separated part of the room. While Indigo went on to the cockpit to tell the pilot they were ready for take-off, Liz welcomed the team explaining why they would be taking exactly this aircraft instead of a standard issue one. "Main reason? I arrived with this one in the first place, and I don't like paying my men for sitting around doing nothing. Second: We have to take a longer flight and this one is a little more comfortable and faster." Bastian chuckled, "And let me guess, it's made by ASL right?" and he poke Saul with his elbow. "It's the ASH Hawk Mk 4 to be accurate... So no, it's produced by the Atlessian Ship Hangars." Liz answered. "We call this one 'The Owl' because of it's upgrades." Aquamarine entered the conversation. "It's all white, and the advanced radar and the sonar make it, well, like an owl." " _They_ are made by ASL." Saul noticed tilting his head over to Bastian. He just rolled his eyes. "Like every technological knick-knack in the world. Or at least it seems like that to me." Liz had to chuckle because of Bastian's frustration. "My son is the CEO of one of the biggest technology corporations, after all."

"...so where exactly are we going?", Bastian asked Liz about half an hour later, "I mean I know how it is called but what is this Lake Galoot place exactly?" "It's a ruined town around an artificial lake, created by the dam of the old Water-power plant.", it wasn't Liz but her secretary Aquamarine answering the question, "it was called Lake Galoot because of the fossils of an ancient civilisation found there during the construction of the dam." Dutchman snapped his fingers to gain Aquamarines attention. "Maybe they want to know the exact mission too, Mermaid", he interrupted. Aquamarine sighed. "All right, boozehound! Just let me finish talking", she gave Indigo a look like she wanted to slap him but remembered her manners, "anyway, our mission is to check the dam's integrity, because if it should collapse, the resulting flooding would cause massive damage to Vale's defences, possibly causing a second Breach. Which wouldn't be that great, you can imagine right?" The team nodded in agreement. "You should know", Liz began to talk, "the dam and town themselves are deep into the woods where the Hawk can't land, so we will start our mission in a deserted village near the forest. There we will set camp for the night and move towards the dam tomorrow. The village was victim of a Grimm attack twelve years ago but since then Grimm weren't spotted there. Nonetheless we have to do guard duty. I hope you have slept enough, this mission will be a tough ride."

The village didn't look too bad given the fact that all the inhabitants had been slaughtered by Grimm. Sure, plants sprawled everywhere and a bunch of windows was shattered but finding shelter was no problem after the pilot had dropped them and flew off. The team simply walked into the small town hall. Necros, however, had a bad feeling. "I can't tell why", he explained kneading his right temple, "but the crystal inside my eye is itching, tickling and hurting like poison ivy as if it wants to tell me something." Bastian shook his head. "Dude, most of the time it's just your crystal clamping some nerves, so relax", he tried to calm down his captain during dinner. "Well, if you want to investigate this shabby backwater", Dutchman, who stirred the soup, suggested, "you can take the first shift. It's all yours." And so he did. While the others slept, Necros scanned the perimeter of the village, searching for anything. He wasn't sure what to look for, so he walked through the former homes of families, ignoring the bones lying here and there, the torch as only source of light. In one home he found an old family picture, took it and sat down on the couch. The young boy depicted grinned but the parents' faces were completely faded. "Oh, this is too cliché", Nec laughed. Then he looked more closely and felt a sudden sadness radiating from the picture. Saul awoke to relieve Nec, giving him the opportunity to sleep a little but his captain wasn't in the hall, so he went out to look for him. As he saw light in a window he approached the house and indeed, there he was, Necros, sitting on a couch, one single tear sparkling on his cheek. Saul immediately understood to keep his mouth shut. "Three years under her, huh?", Nec mumbled clinging to the yellowed picture, "were I really that bad at maths? So I was five, not eight..." Slowly Saul took one step closer to Necros and as he was directly next to him he rested one hand on his shoulder and looked at the photograph. "Are you saying...?", was everything he could whisper. Sorrowful, Necros turned towards Saul and nodded. "Yes. I think I've finally returned home."

* * *

 **A/N:** Welcome, dear reader, to the first part of the Lake Galoot Arc! And as it seems we ended up in Nec's old home. Will he find anything there? Well, you'll see...


	11. Chapter 11: Lake Galoot

Chapter 11: Lake Galoot

"And you're sure this is your old home?", Saul scratched his head. His doubts were somewhat justified. Having the same hair colour as a boy on an old picture doesn't mean the two are one and the same. "You see the three small dark spots over the boys left eye? Just ignore the fact that it's a bit faded, they're still visible", Necros handed over the old photograph pointing his finger at the boy's forehead, where three little moles could be seen. Simultaneously he pushed up the strap of his eyepatch a little bit so the area above his left eye became visible. "Just help me searching for something that bears my name." Saul laughed giving him the photograph back. "There's no need searching, detective", he said wiping some dirt from the couch, "just look at the nameplate. Ever heard of the invention of door bells?" Shaking his head, Necros tucked away the old family picture and went outside. Eventually he noticed his own tiredness, so he accepted Lucidus's takeover thankfully, although not before he made sure to check the family's name. "Morrigan, huh?", Nec mumbled as the cleaned the plate, "no... Carol and Morrigan-Carol. So I chose my last name subconsciously..." Saul nodded and rested his hand on Nec's shoulder. "And you should ask my grandma about this. Maybe her databases hold some information worth hearing. And because of my shift...", he scratched his head and finally pointed at the rifle on Necros's back grinning sheepishly, "may I borrow Acheron? The scope might come in handy." Nec yawned and handed over the rifle as well as two small clips of normal bullets. "Not one scratch or you'll find yourself staring _into_ the barrel. And this is an AMR, so lie down before shooting as long as you don't want to dislocate your shoulder. After all, you're not trained in handling this cutie." And with this Nec bowed out, going back to the town hall to get some sleep.

To his surprise, Liz was awake. "You found something?", she simply asked as he lied down. "Just a last name... Carol. Ringing any bells?", he replied hopefully but earned only a shake of her head as answer, so he closed his eyes to sleep. Until he remembered one detail. "And what about... Morrigan?" The old lady's head tilted. "Maybe... I'll let my assistant investigate that matter further tomorrow. But for now rest, you'll need your energy tomorrow." Necros knew she was right, so he turned and fell asleep immediately.

"Rise and shine, cupcakes!", Dutchman shouted while slamming his anchor on the ground time after time, "It's almost sunrise!" The morning was horrible. Not only had they to wake up before sunrise but also did Onyx's hair look like a plucked chicken -Bastian bet it looked like that all the time- and they only got a thin breakfast. And there are more comfy ways to be woken than by Dutchman. "Hey, cap", Saul called as the threw Acheron over to Nec, "these scopes are incredible! You can hit an Beowolf's eye, I tried!" Necros grinned as he inspected Acheron as well as his cloak. "I know. Already forgot Whitewood Valley?" Saul dug in his memories. He faintly remembered a field mission, a lot of Grimm and Nec getting some decorative scars. "Barely. The point is I didn't expected Acheron to be that easy to handle. I mean, I do had precision training but that easy!" It was somewhat obvious to the group that Saul had used it on relatively short range and Bastian let him know. "And now try to hit a moving target on the other side of a valley while a light breeze is blowing. Well, you didn't dislocate your shoulder at least.", he answered smiling. "Quit bragging like Schnees and grab your stuff!", Indigo ranted at them. "I'm not THAT arrogant!", Saul protested as the group cleared the remains of their camp.  
The group resumed their way to the ruined city. Soon they noticed buildings here and there in the forest which seemed to be far too good in shape for what had happened. Some even seemed repaired. "Wow. Did the Grimm start acting civilised?", Bastian asked whistling, knowing it would be against all odds. "No.", Liz answered calm and factual as she shoved some twigs aside, "This was done by humans. Or at least the remnants of humans."  
As they got deeper and deeper into the woods Onyx noticed a strange smell. "What's it?", Saul wanted to know because the faunus seemed uneasy. "It almost smells like humans and fauni but there is something else to it. They smell a bit like Helm. Oh, and they haven't taken a shower in forever." Saul chuckled about the last part. "They left, not long ago...", Liz now said, "I think they fled from something. Probably us, should they have noticed our arrival yesterday." A loud stomp behind them proved Liz wrong and as Bastian turned around he directly stared at its source. "Or not!", he shouted as the Alpha Griffon who had just landed behind them charged to attack.

"Understandable to flee.", Aquamarine whispered, "may we as well please? I don't like dead students: Too much paperwork." Her attempt to convince the others failed. Grinning Onyx had warped himself behind the Griffon already and swung his swords in the usual frenzy. Nec didn't want to leave his comrade alone and fired. "Luce! Shield!", he commanded. As nobody reacted he tried it with his nickname: "Come on Paladin Crusher, I need a hand!" Saul took the cover shield off his belt and placed it in front of Nec, who ducked behind it. Transforming Silver Lining into sabre mode, Saul then embarked into close combat. "What are you doing?", Indigo had tried to pull Liz out of danger, against which she strongly protested. "That's my grandson fighting right there. Don't you think we should help?", she snapped freeing herself from Indigo's grip and stomping with her cane on the ground. Immediately a swarm of owls consisting of dust emerged from the handle and her eyes started to glow as the owls followed every order she gave with her cane. "Backup", Necros shouted as he saw how a horde of Beowulf, Boarbatusk and even some Ursa came out of the brushwood to assist the Alpha Griffon in the fight. "We need to retreat!" He was right. The horde grew incredibly fast, it was impossible to win over this one. But it didn't matter to his killing instinct as he spotted the Ursa and snapped, ready to fight till death. Luckily Onyx and Bastian were prepared for this and knocked him out cold with a kick to the stomach before he could react. They had to carry him now until he'd be responsive again but a dead captain would have been the other option. "Go already! I'll stay and hold them back", Liz ordered, earning protest from both Indigo and Saul. "I'm not gonna leave you here.", Saul shouted desperately, "I know, sacrificial last stands are a family standard but I don't think this one's the right one for you." Liz smiled, showing the group her confidence and her will to survive. "Oh don't worry honey.", she tried to calm him down, commanding a few owls to pierce a Beowolf charging towards the team, "I'm not thinking of meeting my husband again yet, just go! I know my ways to get out of here." Saul sliced another Beowolf in half, fended off a strike from the Griffon and hugged his grandmother before leaving with the others, helping Onyx and Bastian carrying Necros and his heavy leather-and-metal equipment.  
They'd ran for some time as they reached the ruined city of Lake Galoot. It was like expected. Ruined buildings, dust and gravel everywhere. The team set up camp in an old office building on the second floor and started a fire. "I hope Liz made it", Nec sighed after he'd recovered. "I know my granny", Saul responded, "she'll arrive here precisely as she means to, and most likely out of the blue. Like usually." That answer left everybody asking. "You don't worry about her?", Bastian was the first one to speak. "Why should I?", Saul just answered shrugging, though Onyx was sure to hear a tad of fear in his voice, "first she's an expert huntress with lots of experience and second that's not the first time she does this and returns unharmed. You really don't have to worry." Even Aquamarine agreed, she had been Liz's secretary for quite some time now and knew not to worry about her boss. Indigo seemed to have a special tactic against his worries. He took out a hip flask with some original Vale-made Forever Red, a whisky brand. "How did you smuggle that one in?", Aquamarine demanded to know as she wasn't happy with him drinking on a mission, "I thought we took everything when we picked you up yesterday morning." Indigo smiled. "Nah blue, I always have some.", and started drinking. Or he tried because the whisky refused to come out. Annoyed he gave Aquamarine a look that said 'I'll kill you if you do this again'. Apparently she was using her semblance to control the whisky which stopped it from running out of the bottle.

The next morning it wasn't Indigo who woke the team up but a strange man, leaning over and poking Bastian, to check whether he's alive. "Who the fuck are you, and where did you come from?", Bastian asked confused. "I could ask you the same, city-man.", he responded, "The last we heard from the cities is that you declared all of us for dead. About a hundred years ago." Aquamarine, who've had the last shift entered the room quite surprised. "Who are you? How did you find us? Who are you working with? Speak now!" The strange man sighed and got up. His clothing was patched together out of black scraps that used to be carpets, curtains and even some former clothing. His skin was oddly pale and he had some strange red tattoos on his arms and face, making him look half Grimm. What wasn't too far from the truth, as suddenly his right arm transformed into something similar to what Helm had called Darwin Shell, forming a giant claw with which he grabbed Aquamarine before she could pull her weapon. "Threatening will just attract more, so stay calm", is all he said before releasing her again, "and you've already brought a lot with you." "What are you talking about?", the still sleepy Necros requested. "Grimm", Onyx gnarled and moved his hands towards his swords, "about 20. Pretty close, and one right behind that door." Shocked by this news Saul got up and grabbed Silver Lining, charging a shot. "Hold on!", the strange man demanded, grabbing Saul's weapon, "that's my partner."

The stranger's name was Yoru Teima, he later told them. And he wasn't the only citizen of Lake Galoot to live there after the attack on the city from before the Great War. Actually, a solid community of nowadays about 50 humans and fauni living together with tamed Grimm has formed in the ruined cityscape. "It's like a full village of Helms", Onyx pointed out holding his nose, "except for their hygiene." He himself had been a nomad so he was used to let's say 'natural odours'. But this community's stench of dirt, blood, sweat and Grimm was too much for him at first. "Well sorry!", Yoru called rolling his eyes, "some don't have the comforts of the city. Especially when they live in a wasteland."

The team got introduced to the entire village's inhabitants. Though being quite friendly, all of them seemed to mistrust the newcomers. "We say Townspeople bring bad luck.", Yoru explained to them, "the last one attracted so many Grimm we lost half of our friends that day." Most of the team seemed sorry, except for Indigo. He just seemed annoyed not to have had a drink in the morning. "Though not all townspeople are bad. One taught us how to befriend and use the Grimm. I guess you want to meet him." Yoru gave them a sign to follow him. They walked away from the, sort of, marketplace of the village inside the city's ruins, towards the school. It seemed like it had been a school before as well, though only half of the building was repaired.  
"What's it?", Necros asked Saul who clenched his chest again. "Nothing.", he responded, though clearly in pain, "I'm quite alright." They entered the school, inside they noticed that some of the door signs were "renewed" having a new writing scratched in. Onyx read one: " 'Anatomy & body alteration'. What's that?", he wanted to know from Yoru, who calmly responded: "Human and Grimm anatomy and how to use their DNA to alter your body. It's one of the things the Teacher taught us." Bastian felt uncomfortable when Yoru was near. It wasn't only his pale skin and the red tattoos, but that his partner and he himself partially were Grimm too. He feared, who ever told these people how to use these beings' DNA for body alteration and how to tame them wasn't as friendly as Helm. "So who is your teacher?", Bastian carefully requested trying to get a hint but was turned down by Yoru's answer: "I don't know his name before he came here. We just know him as Teacher. By the way, that's his 'office', how he likes to call it." The door Yoru was pointing at had "hädmazta" scratched into it. Saul, Onyx and Indigo giggled at the funny writing while Nec and Aquamarine just shook their hädz. Sorry, heads.  
"Come in", a deep voice from inside the bureau answered the door, followed by a "What a beauty enters my office today! Where have you been all my life?" Indigo followed Aquamarine who had entered first. "A beauty indeed," he grumbled, "a beauty with a gun and an escort." The elderly man with a big white beard didn't seem very impressed. He smiled and got up from his chair. Obviously the only one intact in this school. "My name is Jade Darwin. Headmaster of Darwin Academy, the best school around here. Pleased to meet you. Excuse the poor writing on the door." He shook Aquamarine's hand, and only hers. "How may I help you?" "First", Aquamarine answered annoyed, "let go of my hand please. Second, what do you know about the dam of Lake Galoot?" Darwin shook his head. "I know nothing about it", the smile had immediately left his face, "except that I wouldn't go there if I were you."  
According to Darwin, a giant old Grimm of a species unknown to the public lived in the lake and threatened everyone who approached it. "I could help you fight it, but I don't think the people of Lake Galoot will let me go." Aquamarine turned to go. "And don't expect any help from them as well", Darwin added, "they mistrust townspeople and only mind their own business."  
Aquamarine was angry. Everyone could feel that. Not only because of the look on her face, but also because that, in combination with her semblance, made everybody's blood temperature rise. She hated when people, mostly men, behaved like that. Like Darwin had. Promising kindness, welcome and support but lacking in actions. Her mission was at risk. Her boss had disappeared, the dam was guarded by an ancient Grimm and these Galoots had nothing better to do than sit there and do nothing while everybody's life, even theirs, was at stake. "Are you...", was everything Indigo could say before Aquamarine smashed him against the wall with her semblance. "I warn you! One more dumb, sexist or chauvinistic comment and I'll see how long it takes to dry your tongue!", she hissed tightening his throat. "Calm down, Marine", Indigo coughed, "I just wanted to know whether you're alright, and how I can help you." She let go of him, her head sank on his shoulder. A silent whimpering was audible and Indigo sent the boys out.  
"I bet they're kissing when we get back in.", Bastian said smiling, "I mean last time someone", he looked at Saul, "comforted a girl the two ended up... ouch!" Nec had given him another brain teaser. "Private things stay private. Knocking first would help, you know?" Bastian rolled his eyes for Nec being so upset about the story. "Sorry", Saul interrupted, "did I miss something?" Bastian scratched his head. "Wow, if you forgot THAT you definitely have a serious case of amnesia. Let me...", he stopped the moment he noticed their captain's bitter look, "... no, let HER fill you in. At the right time and place." Saul was just confused. "Who? Noir? We're just friends.", he shook his head, "sheesh guys, you see relationships where none are." Bastian had to grin. He knew better than believing what couples said to be.

"A giant ancient Grimm huh?", Nec mumbled later, "that would be a hell of a story to tell." "The thing is", Saul mentioned, "we don't know what it is, how dangerous it is, and whether it threatens the dam wall, or would rather keep it intact. After all, this lake is his habitat and if Grimm can cooperate with humans, like they do here, I'm sure this one can tolerate human buildings if it profits him." Saul was right. Grimm were an intelligent species, they wouldn't destroy or kill mindlessly. "Still we have to get to the dam and check it for cracks and other dangers." Saul nodded to Necros in agreement. "The lives of hundreds are more valuable than the life of one. Or a few, if we should fail", Again he clenched his chest but insisted that he was fine.  
"Ok, I'll do my best. I'll bring you to the lake. Now would you please lower your weapon?" Darwin, having his hands in the air, came out of the school, followed by Indigo and Aquamarine, who pointed her gun at his head. Obviously she had found a method of convincing Darwin to help them. It had needed some "advanced negotiation tactics", Darwin had small bruises and scratches all over his body but it seemed to work. "A wise decision, 'cause the two of us had a really bad day and the paperwork waiting at home isn't exactly cheering me up", Aquamarine sighed angrily but at least they had some help now. "So, do you know anything about the lake's inhabitant?", Darwin began to speak, earning silence, "well, then let me tell you the little I know about it", he started to explain in a lowered, droning tone, "I have never seen it myself but some old, very old townslegend names an entity the Galoots ones worshipped, an aquatic creature called 'The Pequod'. I do believe this Pequod is the Grimm we are looking for but I don't know how it looks." 'So we are basically about to sly a god? Sweet', Onyx thought and a wide grin spread over his face. As the old man noticed, he flicked his finger against Onyx's forehead. "I know that look all too well. But let me tell you, your little group wouldn't stand the slightest chance. The legend I'm talking about is over fivehundred years old, so I estimate the Pequod's age something around a thousand. Please, don't run head on into your death. But if you promise that, I will lead you to the dams entrance."


	12. Chapter 12: Release the River

Chapter 12: "Release the River"

"There we are." Darwin had brought them up to the gate of the dam's security fence. Danger shields hung between the posts, the fence was eight foot high and seemed to be able to withstand nature and Grimm for a few decades more before showing weakness. "If you would excuse me now?", Darwin asked before heading off. He didn't feel comfortable about leaving them alone, yet the frontline wasn't his terrain. "Wait a minute", Aquamarine grabbed him at the collar. "What do you want?", Darwin grumbled, "I brought you here as promised." Aquamarine rolled with her eyes and released him. "Maybe your help getting in?"

"I don't think that will be necessary.", Necros stated waving to get the others' attention, "someone else already found a way." He pointed at a road leading up to the dam which ended in front of an open gate in the fence, a truck standing inside. "Looks like the White Fang.", Saul exhaled shocked as he saw their emblem on the truck, "They. Again. Didn't they do enough damage with the first breach?" He clenched his fist in anger, just before starting to cough again. "See. You don't need me any more. Farewell." Darwin bowed and turned to go. Indigo reached for him to stop him, but couldn't grab his hand. Darwin was gone faster than a mouse in her whole. "So... Now it's just us", Onyx sighed, "then we should get the party started, shouldn't we?"  
The team walked down towards the gate and entered. "Don't you think this is dangerous? I mean they could see us any moment.", Bastion mentioned worried but shook his head the next moment, "oh wait, they're henchmen. They're supposed not to see us until..." A bullet struck in right next to him. "Take cover!", Saul shouted dodge rolling behind a crate. About twenty White Fang members stormed out of the power plant building of the dam. Necros lied down under the truck loading non- lethal rubber projectiles into Acheron. That way, he could cover the entrance an prevent reinforcements to come out of it without killing anyone. 'Almost a waste' he thought, being sorry to use Acheron that way but immediately banning the thought from his mind. Bastian warped behind the main group of henchmen firing out of both his weapons. Aquamarine however noticed an enemy sniper on the roof. "Time for this pretty.", she said drawing Springtide, a shotgun with a Diphos-blade under the barrel, from her handbag. Loading a solid bullet instead of a round of shot she shot the sniper who had tried to mock her, thinking she'd use the shotgun regularly. 'They never expect that', she thought satisfied. 'Uuh not now!', Saul complained in his mind as his chest started to hurt again. Crouched behind the crate clenching his chest he didn't notice the henchmen standing right in front of him. As he looked up again he watched right into a gun's barrel... and collapsed.

Memories came back, long forgotten memories. He remembered the day of his sister's funeral ten years ago. The sadness, the despair. The road to the cemetery and how suddenly a man stood in the road.

He lived through every second of it once again.

The man took up a gun and aimed at the car.

His mother ducked and tried to run him over.

The car stopped.

Guns blazed and he cried in fear holding his hand over his ears.

Suddenly his father grabbed him and tried to run away with him in his arms.

His father collapsed after being shot by the assailant and dropped him.

The stranger walked up to the unconscious father and his son.

Saul stood up and grabbed the man's weapon, trying to disarm him.

With no effect. He just shook Saul off and shot him. Twice, right through the heart.

Out of nothing the White Fang was hit by two bullets. The first depleted his aura, the second pierced his left shoulder. The man shot back and fled.

Lucidus heard strong winds like the wings of a giant owl and felt the hands of his grandmother picking him up. "Honey please, not again." Liz opened Lucidus' shirt, took a syringe out of her bag and injected it into his chest; a few moments later he woke up again. He looked around and only saw the unconscious White Fang members, knocked out by his comrades and Liz. "You arrived precisely as you meant to right?", he asked her being sarcastic. Liz smiled, "Precisely as I was needed to. I see you're fine again." She helped her grandson to get up. "So that's why your last name is Hedwig. You're a frigging owl!", Indigo exclaimed, a bit surprised about Liz' semblance. "Ahm Luce", Necros wanted to know to calm down his worries, "what has just happened to you?"

"Well,", Lucidus responded ashamed, "I got back my memories. Including the reason why I decided to call my self Lucidus instead of my given name Saul. It's a long story but shortened up: I died and was resurrected a cyborg using a device called L.U.C.I.D.U.S.. Seeing myself no longer as the one I was before I chose that name instead of my real one, abandoned all feelings and swore revenge on the one who killed me it."

Bastian nodded understanding. "I knew something was wrong with you as soon as I had met you." Lucidus gave him a look like he wanted to slap him. "You're the only one who can't understand him.", Nec mentioned, "...maybe I just say that because I am in a similar situation."

"Anyway", Aquamarine interrupted the discussion, "we still have to check whether the White Fang has sabotaged this dam and the monster exists and threatens us... so I don't think we have time for unnecessary discussions." The team agreed. Except for Indigo, he just didn't care; and so they entered the building.

"One more move and everything goes down!", a rough female voice shouted from the control arch just behind the turbines. The team stopped. "Wait! Please!", Liz tried to negotiate, "I'm sure we can find a compromise." The woman, a strong, muscular wolf faunus, laughed ironically. "Since when does IKARUS negotiate? If I'm not mistaken YOU introduced a "no negotiation" policy. You'd rather see innocents dead than negotiate with us and YOU call US terrorists?" Liz nodded and approached the woman. "You're right, it's pretty reckless. And maybe it's because I am getting older that I do see your point there. You do not want casualties like myself. You're just never given the opportunity to negotiate. That's why I'm here. To negotiate." The woman didn't seem to be really convinced. "You already know me, may I know your name?" Liz reached out with her hand to greet her. "I'm Lupa." Lupa shook hands with Liz. And was right not to have trusted Liz, as she pulled on the wolf's arm to make her stumble forward, stepped behind her and grabbed the other wrist as well. "Morrigan!", she shouted, Nec reacted just in time, pulled up Acheron, aimed and shot destroying the remote in Lupa's hand just before she could push the button. Unfortunately that resulted in him dislocating his shoulder and breaking his collar bone (Mávros Acheron is still an AMR). Screaming in anger because the bullet went through her hand as well and Liz betrayed her, Lupa threw Liz over her shoulder and was about to stomp on her head as Lucidus intervened firing Silver Lining at her. The kinetic blast made her stumble back what gave Bastian just enough time to warp between her and Liz. He then blocked Lupa's counter attack and was pushed back by it himself. Lupa just used her natural claws and strength but was still a fearsome opponent. Seeing his team-mate needing help, Onyx jumped up the balustrade and once again from it he entered combat airborne, shooting two dust sickles at Lupa and landing just in front of the stumbling Bastian. He blocked the next strike of the strong faunus leaving space for Bastian to switch in. As if they had done this a thousand times he used Onyx's back as a step-stone, kicked Lupa in the face in a back-flip and shot during the landing. The grinning wolf boy then took the opportunity while Lupa held her bleeding nose, charged forward and thrusted with both swords at once. Both went straight through Lupa's body, who then fell on her back. "Traitors!", she shouted with her last breath.

"ONYX!", Liz tone was very strict. "Whoops.", Onyx shrugged in 'defence'. "Why?", Liz asked, "she could have had valuable information. So why the hell did you kill her?" Liz was more than disappointed in Onyx. "I didn't meant to. Honestly. It just happened." Liz massaged her forehead, "I'd sent you home immediately if we wouldn't need you here.", she sighed deeply, expressing her feelings.

"Well then,", Liz began after calming down again, "since we can't just ask where the charges are, we have to search them. Onyx, Bastian, you two go down the maintenance shaft and look for charges there, Indigo you're with me. We search the dam on the top. Aquamarine, you are staying here and please look after Nec and Saul. You're the best medic we currently have." And thus Onyx and Bastian went through a door below the control ark downstairs while Liz and Indigo took the other exit out onto the dam wall.

"I'm not feeling that bad!", Lucidus protested. "I think,", Aquamarine said bandaging Nec's arm to his chest, "she wants to ensure that you have someone trustworthy to talk to, if you want." The one surely in need of medical attention was the Reaper. "Ouch", Nec complained as he coincidentally moved his arm, "I think you should. At least to explain it to those of us who hadn't read a file on you, meaning me." Luce sighed and nodded understandingly. "You're right.", he sat down and took a deep breath, "to understand all of it, you have to know the history of IKARUS as well.

After my grandfather started it after the war, together with three others, IKARUS first was just a small institution of the four intelligence services exchanging data on common enemies. Seeing how successful it was, the Kingdoms supported IKARUS more and more leading towards my grandfather's goal: to create one unified Intelligence service as a first step to unify the Kingdoms. But then, Leaders in mantle changed. Ironwood became General of the military and my grandfather was fired from his post at the intelligence departement of the Mantle MP. Partially out of revenge but also because he wanted to limit Ironwood's absolute power over the army, he took IKARUS away from any military influence. The new command centre became a new built airship carrier, the MINOS. Some in IKARUS however didn't like to see that change of power. Lead by Reuben Lexington they formed a counter organisation to take IKARUS down. On their first assault on my family they killed my grandfather and his bodyguard on the airship. After she had taken command they tried it with Liz but failed. So they took the next easier target. My family."  
Necros had to shake his head "How nice they are. Let me guess they later took over the Real Humans?" Luce nodded and continued to explain. "Youp they did. They have tried to kill my family since then. Especially me because their leader, that insane idiot, thinks I am the reincarnation of my grandfather just because I look a bit like him and was born the day he died." Nec shook his head again. That was indeed stupid. Something like reincarnation didn't exist, at least he didn't knew of it.

He noticed how Aquamarine looked upon the lake, as if she hadn't been listening. "Something wrong?", he asked pulling on her sleeve "Huh?", was everything she responded, "no, it's just... Darwin warned us about a huge old Grimm and I could swear something is moving in the water." She pointed at some small waves, facing against the wind and closing in. Suddenly the silhouette of something big was visible on the surface. "Speak of the devil!", Aquamarine shouted, "you two get the others and leave. We'll meet again at the gate.", she demanded, while undressing herself down to the underwear in haste. "And don't forget my clothes!" She picked up spring-tide again, shattered one of the windows and jumped in the lake from there.  
"I thought suicide missions were an Albus family standard?", Lucidus joked, confusing his captain. "I'll explain later.", was all he said picking up Aquamarine's clothes. Raising an eyebrow, Nec took out his scroll and called the others to meet again at the gate.

In the meantime Aquamarine did her best to evade the attacks of the Grimm. Of course she had it easier with her semblance of complete control over water, still, that enormous Narwhal was fast and had an enormous horn she shouldn't underestimate. She swam in a circle trying to fool the Grimm and to keep his attention on her. The latter was no problem, the first rather was. 'That beast is clever', she thought to herself while dodging a thrust from the horn. Keeping up with it's speed was no problem for her, as she used her semblance to create streams to propel her, evading in the right moment however was because the whale attacked randomly and had no problem hitting such an in comparison small target just in front of his snout. Slowly growing tired, Aquamarine decided it had been enough time for the team to reassemble and went for the gate. Jumping out of the water she checked whether everyone was alright and landed just a few meters from them.

"I knew you'd look great, especially without clothes.", Indigo taunted her chuckling but stopped as the giant Grimm emerged from the water right behind her. He took of his coat and drew his weapon. "You stay behind.", he ordered before running, with his insane speed, behind Aquamarine laying the coat around her shoulders and then attacking the Pequod in close combat.  
Trying to give Aquamarine cover while she was retrieving Liz raised her staff again and let a swarm of owls attack the stranded whale as well.  
Though lying on dry ground, it still put up quite a fight for Indigo, who constantly had to dodge attacks from the horn or flippers and even as the whole team fired their weapons at it they didn't seem to do any damage at all.

"Stop it you idiots!", Darwin came running up the street from the valley. Though he'd never admit it, the old scholar stayed near the facility the whole time, to come to help if necessary."Pull back! You can't harm it." "Any better idea?", Liz asked annoyed. He had. His trump card to survive out here was his semblance, the ability to tame and control Grimm for a short period of time. Darwin closed his eyes and stretched out his hand towards the exhausted beast. "Calm down Pequod." He whispered while glowing strangely black. The Grimm followed, stopped attacking the group and whistled. Indigo retreated and even Liz stopped attacking it as well. "Leave now!", Darwin told the group, "I can't do this forever." Nodding Liz walked ahead, followed by the group. As soon as they were out of reach, Darwin commanded the black whale to go back into the lake and left himself.

"What an adventure", Onyx coughed gasping for air as they had ran the entire way, "a city full of Helms, a damned dam that almost got blown up and a lake with a giant Narwhal in it", he smiled, "and Titan is finally back to himself. No offence but that Saul side of you just scared the hell out of me. A nice and happy version of you... creepy if you ask me." Lucidus had to laugh and most of the team soon joined in. They had safely returned and successfully ended their mission. For now.

"Tell me", Necros asked Liz and Lucidus on the flight back to Beacon, "What do you know about my ancestors? And what about that 'suicidal missions are a family standard of the Albus'?" Liz smiled with her grandmotherly smile, took a deep breath and started to explain. "George Albus, Roy Morrigan -your grandfather-, Reuben Lexington and Ulysses Harbinger were the founders of IKARUS. Our families have had strong bounds for a long time... until your parents died. It broke poor Roy's heart to loose all that was left of his family, not knowing that his daughter's child survived. He locked himself up in his manor. A few years ago his last friend, his butler Simon came to us and informed us of his death." Nec's throat tightened. "That makes me the last Morrigan right?"

Liz and Luce nodded. "You own a beautiful old mansion just outside Vale City now. IKARUS had taken care of it since Roy's death but as you are still alive and I'm in charge of the property, it's all yours now. But to answer your second question: for generations, the members of my family have low regard of their own safety. Now, young Morrigan, answer me one question in return.  
Most huntsmen use kinetic rounds or dust energy bullets. Why don't you? Why are you using ballistic projectiles, hard rounds which are extremely dangerous even to those skilled in aura protection?"  
She was somewhat right. Most huntsmen's blasts weren't lethal to the human body as they are just energy. But he was different. As far as he could remember -he couldn't think further back than to his escape from _her_ at the age of eleven- he used this kind of ammunition without further concern. But on the other hand this was something like his speciality. He was known as the 'Reaper of Signal Academy' after all...

It took him a few minutes to realise that the elderly woman was still waiting for an answer. "Sorry, I can't answer the way you expect", he finally said scratching his head, "it just feels right to me. As if this was the way I'm supposed to hunt. After all, it has a higher lethality, as you said. Perfect for the wild hunt, if you ask me." Liz just nodded thoughtful and went to the cockpit. She took a mental note to talk to Qrow about this. Huntsmen shouldn't be trained to kill, but to save lives and to know the difference between the two.

"Seriously guys", Bastian yawned leaning back in his seat, "I've had enough terrorists for this semester. If anyone of you gets involved in any kind of similar activity, you can find me reading with my headphones turned on. Also, don't bother waking me before we're above Vale City." The rest had to smile. If the mood was needed to be lit up, you could count on Bastian, most of the times. And so they followed his example and fell asleep one after another.

Everything was pitch black. Necros felt he was kneeling and as he tried to stand up heavy chains held him down, his arms were held up, as if they were crucified. And it was loud. Too loud. Only white noise and buzz was audible and in the mass of voices one stood out, laughing coldly, looking down on him.

He woke up covered in sweat. The immediate silence comforted him and his heartbeat calmed down quickly. Through the window he could see a green shining spot in the distance, Beacon's tower he assumed. Knowing they'd be home soon he fell back asleep clutching his rifle.

Though it was the middle of the night, three people awaited the arrival of the Owl. "Why am I here again, Oz?", an unshaven man with dark grey hair asked the headmaster. "Relax, Qrow, this may be your last chance to", Oz smiled fixating the horizon, "for I'm anxious. Elizabeth's report shouldn't be taken lightly and you, too, are part of the inner circle. As soon as they arrive we'll speak about this."  
And so they did. At the arrival Necros wanted to greet his old teacher but was sent to the infirmary by Glynda before they could exchange one word and the other boys were too tired to say anything and went straight to bed. As Ozpin entered his office with the others, General Ironwood's holographic image wasn't fond of seeing the old woman. "Director Albus... what are you doing here?", he requested coldly. Liz smiled, mocking Ironwood.  
"General, are you still upset that we were the ones finding the virus in Vytal's system last year?" The tension rose. Everyone in the room was well aware of the conflict between the two. Ironwood was the only headmaster with no influence over IKARUS and it displeased him, Liz withheld information, so he didn't trust her.  
"Jimmy, Beth, cut it", Qrow intervened, trying to be the reasonable one, "we're here for the report, so if you don't mind...?"  
Nobody spoke after Liz had finished. Except for Ironwood. "That's exactly why I don't trust you, Albus. You had no authorisation and didn't even think of letting all of us in. You really think telling your old friend Oz is enough?" Liz shook her head.  
"No. I don't think that, I _know_ that. Also first filling you in into every operation I plan would be against the IKARUS Constitution, and so much paperwork that I'd have neither any time off, nor time to do something myself. So please son, take it easy." Ironwood turned to Ozpin shaking his head.  
"She's right in one point." Qrow responded, maybe because he partially shared Liz's mindset towards Ironwood.  
"Whatever. Would you mind explaining to us why you put a group of first year students in such danger? What could be so important?"  
Liz smiled insolent and left a long pause.

" _The heir to a long lost throne  
with a heart of gold  
but a shell of stone.  
_ _Born just before winters cold.  
_ _His soul shows his might,  
_ _though his heart is black  
_ _and deadly his burning wrath  
_ _but even from grim death  
_ _he'll finally come back  
_ _shining through the darkest night"_

She left a pause again. "Doesn't that sound all too fitting?"

The infirmary was quiet. Except Necros, only two others were there: Doc, of course, for his injured back was still monitored closely, and one second year guy, black hair, one funky pink streak within. Luckily, Nec wasn't severely hurt. Dislocated shoulder and cracked -but not broken- collarbone, the doctor said.  
'No excessive fighting, doctor's order...', he thought sighing. Maybe sparring with the left hand would be okay... His thought were disrupted as the door opened. "Rogue? 'S that you? The others walk way louder."  
To his surprise, none of his comrades, but a red haired girl entered. "Did I wake you up?", she excused as she passed Necros's bed, "I'm sorry." He, on the other side, just shook his head. "Don't worry, I haven't slept since I returned here." The girl nodded and sat down opening a book. 'What is she doing here? And more importantly, why does she seem familiar?', Necros wondered, resting his head on the pillow. Then suddenly, he remembered. She was that combat prodigy of class 2, the one reaching the Vytal finals last year. So nothing to worry about.  
The worries came soon, though, as Qrow came in, too. "G'night Nikos, so you're on duty today", he greeted the girl. Apparently some people were waiting for the other guy's recovery... "But you're not the one I want to talk to. How's it going, champ?", and with this he turned to Necros, "I'm not even sure how to call you, now that I know you're Morrigan's... Anyway, I'm just here to lose some words. First: lay low. Most important thing is your recovery. Secondly: don't use it as excuse to slack off. Stay sharp, will ya?" And as suddenly as he came he was gone, leaving his former student confused.  
The next days were rather dull for Team NOBL. It was back to scheduled classes, no adventures, no real excitement. Nec couldn't even train due to his injuries, so he began pacing through the school impatiently, what drove Onyx nuts. At least Doc was allowed to leave the infirmary eventually, so at least at one point the group had something to break the routine. But the real deal happened a few weeks after their field mission, as the four were awakened by loud knocking on their door.  
"Morrigan, I know you're here. Get dressed and come to the airship!" What's wrong with this old lady? Waking them on a free day like this... Onyx and Bastion did the only right thing, turned around and fell asleep again. Necros had no other choice though, and obeyed her order.  
"I'm coming with you", Lucidus comforted him placing his hand on Necros's shoulder, "after all, she's my grandmother, not yours."  
Appreciating the friendly turn Necros nodded and put on his eyepatch. A few days ago he was allowed to fully use and strain his arm, and he was more than glad to be able to use it again. Doing everything with only the left arm had annoyed him pretty quickly. Stretching their arms the boys walked through the twilight of dawn to the airships. The school was really peaceful during those times of the morning but it didn't keep Liz from being impatient.  
"Come on Morrigan, I didn't dig through mountains of paperwork just to wait for you now!"  
The old lady was excited, they could tell without any problem but she kept her mouth shut for the entire tour, only smiling impishly. Her smile became a wide grin as they arrived at a small mansion in the city's outskirts.  
"Lady Albus! What a delightful visit!", an old man walking with a cane greeted them, wearing some kind of tuxedo-uniform. His bound together, snow-white long hair and his orderly trimmed full beard of the same colour gave him -in combination with his smile- a quite friendly look. "May I ask who this young gentlemen you're travelling with might be?"  
"Nice house you own there, Sir", Necros interrupted the conversation, amazed by the old building.  
"Oh, no no, young man, I could only dream of such", the old man laughed heartily, "I water the plants and do the dusting, a butler you could call me."

"Good to see you, too, Simon", Liz chuckled before she introduced the boys. The elderly housekeeper hadn't lost his sense of humour. "The bright one is my grandson, you know him, kind of. His team's leader is the one of interest for you... May I present to you: Morrigan."  
Simon's eyes widened in disbelieve. "By the gates of the Ghost Queen's palace! Cionna's son... is alive?! Young Morrigan... welcome home.", Simon took Necros into his arms, with tears of joy in his eyes.

* * *

Somewhere, on a glade in a small, remote grove no Grimm dared to enter, a woman in red stood in front of a pond, facing the reflective surface. Suddenly her reflection turned into the image of a white-skinned woman in black.  
"High Witchmother Salem", the lady in red bowed to the image, "I come once again to inform you of our progress."  
"Look at you, girl, what a formidable witch you've become. Keeping yourself young at least seems to be no problem for you. It was really fortunate your grandmother managed to escape Weißenberg`s trials 300 years ago... But tell me what you've come for."  
"The Coven is growing again, Witchmother... currently, we are five. Two disciples, a trickster, his right hand and me, the Coven's Mother." Her smile darkened as she went on. "Though... I lost one disciple. And neither of my current have the means to represent me in front of our puppets, so I have to keep on searching." Before continuing, the witch lighted some candles just by snapping her fingers. Dusk was setting in and the treetops blocked almost every bit of light now that the sun sets. "But our influence over Taurus and the Hatter grows by the day. They don't smell a rat. Trust me Salem, soon, the wizard's tower will burn and Weißenberg will curse the day he declared war with us!"


End file.
